Yemen (Hansard, 20 May 1997)

§ Mr. Vaz
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government on the application for membership by the Republic of Yemen at the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. [288]

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
The Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Edinburgh will consider a report on Commonwealth membership criteria. The Commonwealth Secretary-General has advised Yemen that no applications for membership will be considered until that has taken place. We welcome the fact that the Commonwealth is attracting interest from potential new members, but will emphasise the importance of full compliance with the Harare declaration, which sets the Commonwealth political and human rights standards.

§ Mr. Vaz
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to visit the Republic of yemen. [290]

§ Mr. Fatchett
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary looks forward to visiting Yemen in due course, although he has no plans to do so in the immediate future.

§ Mr. Vaz
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the recent elections in the Republic of Yemen. [291]

§ Mr. Fatchett
We welcome the successful completion of parliamentary elections in Yemen last month. They marked a further step in Yemen's recovery since the damaging civil war of 1994. Yemen's democracy is young, and although there were some irregularities, the international observers concluded that, on balance, the elections were "reasonably free and fair". We welcome this, and look forward to future co-operation with the new Yemeni Government and Parliament.