§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the top five imports in both the European Economic Community in general and Great Britain from the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe top five European Community imports from ACP states in 1987 were oil (4.26 billion ecu), coffee (1.61 billion ecu), cocoa (1.35 billion ecu), copper (0.55 billion ecu) and wood (0.55 billion ecu). (Source: European Commission "Principle EC imports from ACP states 1983–87"; 1987 exchange rate £1 = 1.41 ecu).
Comparable figures for individual member states are not published by the Commission and the information requested for United Kingdom imports is not readily available from United Kingdom statistics.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on studies comparing the shock and gradualist approach of disbursing aid to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
§ Mr. Chris PattenI have no information about such studies.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the current quota on the European market under the terms of the sugar protocol to the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
10W
§ Mr. Chris PattenUnder the sugar protocol to the Lomé convention, the European Community undertakes for an indefinite period to purchase and import each year at guaranteed prices 1.3 million tonnes (white sugar equivalent) of cane sugar from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. This total is divided into national quotas among the ACP signatories.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the current rate of exports from the African, Caribbean and Pacific to(a) the European Economic Community and (b) Great Britain.
§ Mr. Chris PattenIn 1987 total ACP exports to the European Community were 16.37 billion ecu(Source: European Commission "Principle EC imports from ACP states 1983–87"); and to the United Kingdom 2.37 billion ecu (Source: Eurostat Monthly External Trade Statistics) (1987 exchange rate: £1 = 1.41 ecu).
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the declaration made on 5 June in Brussels to ban all traffic of toxic waste to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries has been upheld.
§ Mr. Chris PattenAt the ACP-EC ministerial negotiating meeting on 3–5 June, the European Community indicated that it was willing in principle to agree to an ACP request that the Community should ban the export of toxic waste to the ACP. Negotiations are continuing on the means of implementing such a ban.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the request from Mr. Seydina Oumar Sy, the Senegalese trade minister, on behalf of his African, Caribbean and Pacific colleagues, for the European Community to put extra money into the Lomé arrangement for structural adjustment has been met.
§ Mr. Chris PattenEuropean Community member states have not yet discussed the level of resources to be provided under the next Lomé convention.
§ Mr. Andrew F. BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which rules have been eased in regard to African, Caribbean and Pacific industrial products entering the European Community duty free, as promised by Mr. Manuel Martin, the European Community development Commissioner.
§ Mr. Chris PattenIn the current renegotiation of the Lomé convention the Commission has proposed a number of improvements to the rules of origin. We support these concessions. The Council is considering its position on the Commission proposals. This will then be put to the ACP in the next round of the negotiations. The objective is agreement by the end of December.