HC Deb 07 July 1988 vol 136 cc666-7W
Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many United Kingdom trade missions visited Latin American countries in each of the last five years; what were their destinations; how many were assisted by funds from his Department or the British Overseas Trade Board; and what, in each case, were the principal United Kingdom private sector companies or organisations involved.

Mr. Alan Clark

My Department provided financial support for trade missions to Latin America in each of the years 1983 to 1987 as follows:

Year Number of missions Markets visited
1983 5 Brazil, Colombia (2) and Venezuela (3).
1984 7 Brazil (2), Chile (3), Colombia (2), Mexico, Paraguay (3), Peru and Venezuela.
1985 5 Chile, Colombia (3), Ecuador, Mexico (2) and Venezuela (2).
1986 12 Belize, Brazil (4), Chile (4), Colombia (3), Ecuador (2), Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela (5).
1987 15 Brazil (6), Chile (5), Colombia (3), Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico (2), Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay (2) and Venezuela (3).

Some trade missions visited more than one market: the figures in brackets in the final column show the number of times the market was visited in the same year. These missions have attracted participation by many major British companies. No comparable information is available on missions not receiving DTI support.

Mr. David Nicholson

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what proportion of total European Community exports to Latin America was represented by exports from the United Kingdom, in 1973, 1978, 1983 and the latest year for which figures are available, counting exports from Spain, Portugal and Greece with the European Community total.

Mr. Alan Clark

The information is in the table.

Proportion of EC (12) Community Exports to Latin America from United Kingdom
Per cent.
1973 14
1978 14
1983 9
1987 12

Note:

Latin America taken as Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico. Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina.

Source: OECD Trade Series 'A'.