§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the influence that the destruction of tropical rain forests in developing countries has had on the Government's policy towards the third world debt crisis.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe links between international debt and deforestation are complex. The pressures which cause deforestation exist independently of the size of a country's debt. Nevertheless, for wider economic and developmental reasons, Britain has led the way in promoting debt relief measures, particularly for the poorest.
Twelve low-income, highly indebted countries have benefited from substantial reductions in their official debt as a result of the Prime Minister's Trinidad terms initiative. The terms currently reduce eligible payments due to Governments by as much as 50 per cent. We continue, however, to press for even more generous debt relief to be made available to those countries that need it.
For middle income countries, which owe their debt largely to banks, we are providing support for commercial debt reduction through the Brady plan. This international agreement allows International Monetary Fund and World bank to devote some of their lending resources to
ATP agreements concluded during 1989 Country Project Lead United Kingdom company Amount (£ million) Egypt Maghara Coal Mine Babcocks 0.080 India URI Hydro Electric Power Station Boving and Co. 17.146 Indonesia Cigarding Port Extension Tarmac International Special Projects 13.266 Indonesia Radio Studios David Whittle Associates 0.378 Indonesia Satellite Remote Sensing Technology Applied Systems 0.028 Indonesia Scattered Diesels GEC Diesels 5.891 Kenya Mombasa South Coast Link Road Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners 0.350 Kenya Digital Micro Wave System Telectron Systems 4.214 Morocco Nador Steel Works Study W. S. Atkins 0.133 Pakistan Karachi Water II Portals Water Treatment 6.629 Philipines Gas Turbines Power Station JBE 13.125 Red Sea Regional Hydrocarbon Study Robertson Research International 0.187 Swaziland Fire Equipment Carmichael Fire and Bulk 0.123 Thailand Diesel Multiple Units BREL 4.487 Thailand Railway Signalling Transmark 0.773 Tunisia Railway Equipment Balfour Beatty 0.500 Tunisia Yarn and Fibre Plant Extrusion Systems Ltd. 0.337 766W
ATP agreements concluded during 1990 Country Project Lead United Kingdom company Amount (£ million) Botswana Flight Information Region Siemens Plessey Radar 2.938 China Beijing Subway Balfour Beatty (Metrotec) 9.987 China Danyang Aluminium Plant Davy McKee (Poole) Ltd. 3.532 Colombia San Andres Power Station Hawker Siddeley Power Engineering 3.430 Cyprus Limassol Water Treatment Plant Water Engineering 1.470 Indonesia Citayam/Cibinong Railway Foster Wheeler World Services 20.105 Indonesia Cigading/Serpong Railway Rehabilitation Davy/British Railway International 24.690 Indonesia Radio Communication System for the Ministry of Forestry Philips Radio Communication Systems 34.111 facilitate voluntary debt reduction agreements between banks and debtors. Brazil, for instance, has been able to agree in principle a deal which will effectively reduce its £29 billion debt to banks by around a third.