HC Deb 19 February 1997 vol 290 cc578-9W
Mr. Bayley

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list in respect of every United Kingdom overseas aid contribution to Albania since 1990 the date it was approved, the value of the aid, United Kingdom expenditure to date and a description of the nature and purpose of the aid project or programme. [16627]

Dr. Liam Fox

British overseas aid expenditure in Albania since 1991, the first year that the UK disbursed funds there, totals £5,001,619. The funds have been disbursed through the know-how fund and the ODA's emergency aid department. Since the know-how fund set up its programme for Albania it has focused on the following priority sectors: financial services; public administration and good government; agriculture; and health. The fund has also run projects in the media and education sectors.

Development assistance projects vary in size of funding from a few hundred pounds to several hundreds of pounds. There are therefore too many to list in full. The following are the projects on which the fund and the ODA have disbursed over £100,000:

Description £
The Know How Fund
Farm-land restructuring (November 1992) 113,053
Advice on privatising the Rural Commercial Bank (December 1994) 173,167
Support in setting up the stock exchange and advice on setting up investment funds (November 1995) 191,043
Advice on local Government finance and budgeting (July 1993) 343,329
Attachment of British haematologist to Albanian National Blood Transfusion Service (March 1994) 123,230
Assistance to Albanian National Health Insurance Institute (September 1995) 178,108
Pre-Investment Feasibility Studies since January 1994 139,841
Emergency Aid Department
Feed The Children—Food, medical and educational supplies (September 1991) 580,000
Feed the Children—Emergency supplies Tropjoe District purchase of 10-ton vehicle (March 1994) 300,405
Feed the Children—Food, hygiene materials, clothing and purchase of 2 trucks, 1 Land Rover, bedding and cooking equipment (March 1995)380,227 WHO donation to joint WHO/UNICEF appeal—polio epidemic (October 1996) 100,000
British Red Cross—Purchase, shipment and distribution of wheat flour and miscellaneous relief goods (February 1992) 287,369