§ Mr. SteelTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek to obtain the agreement of the other member states of the EEC to convert past aid loans from the European development fund to the poorest countries into grants.
§ Mr. Chris PattenAid from the European development fund to the poorest countries has been provided almost 119W wholly in the form of grants, not loans. Conversion into grants would not therefore be helpful to these countries. However, the EC Development Council agreed on 9 November 1987 that over the next two years receipts of interest and capital up to a level of 60 million ecu (about £42 million) on past EDF loans that would otherwise have been credited to the member states will instead be provided as grants to the poorest and most indebted countries in sub-Saharan Africa which are pursuing appropriate economic adjustment policies. The Council also agreed that other EDF funds should be provided for the same purpose.