Developing Nations (Hansard, 18 June 1996)

§ Mr. Jamieson
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those countries that are currently classified by his Department as developing nations and are receiving Government aid. [33273]

§ Mr. Hanley
The 27 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development are generally regarded as the world's developed or industrialised countries. Countries in the rest of the world are broadly divided into two categories—the developing countries and "transition" countries. The latter category comprises Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovak Republic, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Estonia, Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania. The Government give aid to around 160 developing and transition countries.
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§ Mr. Jamieson
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those countries that have been classified as developing nations since 1966 indicating the total amount each country has received in aid. [33272]

§ Mr. Hanley
The ODA publication, "British Aid Statistics"—published annually since 1965—provides comprehensive information on UK aid flows. Information on aid flows to and from other countries is contained in the World Bank's "World Development" report—it includes aid receipts by all countries—and in the OECD's publication "Geographical Distribution of Financial Flows to Aid Recipients". Historical data in these publications date back to the late 1960s only. All three publications are held in the Libraries of the House.

§ Mr. Jamieson
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria determine the eligibility of a country to qualify as a developing nation for ODA aid; and which body determines which countries are eligible. [33274]

§ Mr. Hanley
The OECD's Development Assistance Committee maintains a list of countries to which donors give aid. Part 1 of the DAC list is made up of developing countries. Help to these countries counts as official development assistance. Part 2 of the list is made up of transition countries, plus six graduated countries—Bahamas, Brunei, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore and United Arab Emirates.
Governments are free to give aid to whichever countries they wish, but only aid to part 1 countries on the DAC lists counts as "official development assistance".