§ Mr. John Grantasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what overseas aid 15W from the United Kingdom has gone to Grenada in each of the years from 1979 to date; what form it has taken; what requests for aid from the Government of Grenada for assistance have been received during that period; and what response has been made to them and why.
§ Mr. RaisonThe figures are as follows:
£'000 1979 1980 1981 1982 Capital aid 220 205 50 * Technical Co-operation 32 53 33 * * Not yet available. Expenditure on capital projects has been from a commitment of £2.25 million, part grant, part soft loan, made following independence in 1974. About £82,000 remains to be spent. Projects approved since 1979 have been mainly for roads and bridges and for the banana development programme. Technical co-operation is on grant terms and has been provided mainly for manpower assistance and the training of Grenada nationals in the United Kingdom.
A written request that consideration be given to entering into discussions on a new tranche of development assistance was received from the Grenada Government in July 1982. The request was renewed by the Grenada Foreign Minister during a visit to the ODA in December 1982. The request was declined on both occasions, although we have undertaken to keep the situation under continuous review.
Grenada claims to receive substantial aid from elsewhere and we must take account of the pressing needs of other developing countries in allocating our limited bilateral resources. We also have to consider the Grenada Government's record on civil liberties and democratic rights. We have made these points clear to the Grenada Government in our replies to their request.