§ Mr. MacShaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list by type and funding the know-how fund projects in Albania since 1992. [16411]
§ Sir Nicholas BonsorThe know-how fund set up its programme for Albania in 1993. Since then, 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.
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 has disbursed over £100,000 since 1993: 580W
Projects £ Farm-land restructuring 113,053 Advice on privatising the Rural Commercial bank 173,167 Support in setting up the stock exchange and advice on setting up investment funds 191,043 Advice on local government finance and budgeting Attachment of British haematologist to Albanian 343,329 National Blood Transfusion Service 123,230 Assistance to Albanian National Health Insurance Institute 178,108 Pre-investment feasibility studies since January 1994 139,841
§ Mr. MacShaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received about the use of the diplomatic bag to convey party political propaganda to Tirana. [16403]
§ Sir Nicholas BonsorNone.
§ Mr. MacShaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Albanian Government officials made Foreign and Commonwealth Office sponsored visits to the United Kingdom in(a) 1993, (b) 1994, (c) 1995, (d) 1996 and (e) 1997. [16402]
§ Sir Nicholas BonsorVisits sponsored by the Department to the UK by Albanian Government officials numbered, in financial years—1993–94, 11 (five visit programmes); 1994–95, 13 (three visit programmes); 1995–96, three (two visit programmes); 1996–97, one.
§ Mr. MacShaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Albanian government in respect of their detention of(a) opposition leaders and (b) journalists. [16400]
§ Sir Nicholas BonsorWe have raised with the Albanian Deputy Foreign Minister our deep concern at reports of arrests and intimidation by the authorities in Tirana. We have also pressed in the European Union for EU ambassadors to express their concern collectively.