§ Mr. FoulkesTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his oral statement of 13 December,Official Report, columns 373–74, if he will outline the main aims and objectives of the aid and trade provision project in Botswana and indicate what factors led the ODA to consider, following the High Court judgment, that it might fall outside the scope of the Overseas Development and Co-operation Act 1980.
§ Mr. Baldry[holding answer 20 December 1994]: The main aim and objective of the project was to provide Botswana with its own flight information system to ensure awareness of flights from neighbouring countries. The project was therefore consistent with our overall policy of assisting front line states to reduce their dependence on South Africa and was judged to be a cost-effective means of meeting the objective. The factors which led ODA to consider that, in the light of the court's judgment, the project fell outside the scope of the Act were concerns about the developmental soundness of the project and the weight attached to commercial and political considerations in the decision to allocate aid.