§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why Britain refuses to make financial assistance available to the international fund for agricultural development.
§ Mr. RaisonThere is no question of the Government refusing to make financial assistance available. We have paid all our contributions due under the initial funding and the first replenishment, and we are ready to contribute a similar share of the second replenishment if and when that is approved.
When the second replenishment is in place, we shall consider whether to contribute to IFAD's new, voluntary special programme for africa. We have our own very effective bilateral aid programme however, and any additional contribution to IFAD would inevitably leave us with less money for that.