§ Mr. CabornTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek an amendment to the draft negotiating mandate on future relations between the European Union and South Africa to enable South African bodies to tender for contracts under the624W VIII European development fund on the preferential terms available to the African, Caribbean and Pacific group states under the Lomé convention. [25612]
§ Mr. Baldry[holding answer 23 May 1995]There are good prospects that the negotiating mandate on future relations between the European Union and South Africa will enable South African bodies to tender for contracts under the European development fund. The idea of granting to South Africa the ACP's preferential status in EDF tenders, however, raises a number of additional issues which are still under discussion between member states in Brussels.