§ Mr. Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his oral reply of 16 January 1991,Official Report, column 836, if he will indicate what discussions are taking place on the restrictions placed by the Belgium Government on the supply of ammunition to the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggDuring the past weeks we have put several requests to Belgium and other partners for logistic and other support for British forces in the Gulf. Details are confidential. The requests have been under discussion both bilaterally and within the Western European Union. Although the Belgian Government felt unable to meet all our requests, other allies were able to meet the shortfall. The Belgian Government have helped in other ways, notably in providing medical and air transport support. They have also deployed combat aircraft to Turkey and provided other assistance in the region. At the WEU ministerial meeting on 17 January we advised partners that we might be making further requests in due course. We would hope that any such requests would receive swift and sympathetic consideration.