§ 77. Sir Charles MorrisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement about Britain's support for the republic of the Maldives.
§ 86. Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement about aid to the Maldives following the visit there by the Minister for Overseas Development.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI visited the Maldives from 4 to 6 May to mark the 25th anniversary of their independence. During the visit I reviewed our aid programme to the country. British aid to the Maldives is planned to increase to £700,000 in 1991–92. About half of the programme is allocated to financing training for Maldivian students in the United Kingdom and, during the visit, the Maldivian Government requested more training places.
The rest of our assistance goes to support the establishment of an English language teaching centre to provide in-service teacher training from primary level upwards; and, secondly, to support the Maldivian Government's programme of monitoring and improvement of the marine environment. We have been asked to help with the establishment of an environmental research unit and our high commissioner will be providing my officials with full details for consideration.
VSO is very active in the Maldives. We support a project run by Voluntary Service Overseas to manage an integrated development programme in an outer atoll called Shaviyani, two islands of which I visited. I was most impressed by the dedication and effectiveness of our volunteers there and elsewhere, and of our other aid officers in the Maldives.