HC Deb 21 May 1993 vol 225 cc349-50W
Mr. Wareing

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those countries to which assistance is given through the know-how fund; and if he will state the sums involved in each case.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

[holding answer 20 May 1993]: The countries receiving assistance through the know-how fund, including those to which specific pledges have been made, are:

Poland Pledge of £50 million over 5 years, commencing 1989–90 and £15 million for the Agricultural Development Fund;

Hungary Pledge of £25 million over five years, commencing 1989–90;

Czech Republic Slovak Republic}Pledge of £30 million over 5 years, commencing 1990–91;

Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Slovenia Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the countries of the Transcaucasus and Central Asia: Pledge of £100 million over five years, commencing 1991–92.

A further £60 million of bilateral aid for Russia was announced by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary in April 1993.

We are also committed to spending £5 million on environmental projects in the region in the period 1992–95.

In 1993–94, we also expect to contribute £48.7 million to the European bank for reconstruction and development and £131 million to the European Community's PHARE and TACIS programmes. Total British assistance to eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union in financial year 1993–94 is likely to exceed £232 million.