Nicaragua and Honduras: Minister's Visit (Hansard, 27 July 1999)

§ Baroness Amos

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development's visit to Nicaragua and Honduras from 5 to 9 July was focused on how the countries are recovering from the effects of Hurricane Mitch. He met President Flores in Honduras, and also had meetings with government officials and representatives of multilateral organisations and civil society.

This was the first visit to Nicaragua by a British Government Minister for several years. The Minister's programme included visits to the Department for International Development (DFID)—funded water supply projects administered by UNICEF; a visit to the Casita volcano, where a mudslide caused by Hurricane Mitch killed an estimated 2,000 people in October 1998; meetings with the Managua-based representatives of the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and with International and British aid organisations, NGOs 159WA and counterparts, and bilateral meetings with Eduardo Montealagre, Minister for External Relations, and with Martha McCoy, Minister of Health.

The meetings with the IDB and UNDP resident representatives were particularly useful in terms of understanding the priorities and concerns of both organisations and their ideas about areas in which DFID could provide support. The IDB confirmed that the Stockholm Consultative Group meeting had been a success for Nicaragua. The challenge now would be to process pledges of assistance efficiently and transparently.

The IDB also stressed the importance of foreign investment, especially in the agro-industrial sector, to generate employment, sustain growth and increase export revenue. It welcomed DfID's intention to work more closely with the multilateral organisations, specifically the CABILICA fund.

The IDB said it would particularly welcome UK support for the technical unit at the Presidency responsible for the design, monitoring and evaluation of post reconstruction projects.

The UNDP said that education would be a prime area for British assistance.

Nicaraguan Ministers welcomed UK interest in the health sector and sought increased investment from British companies, particularly in tourism and energy supply.

In Honduras the Minister saw post-hurricane reconstruction in Choluteca, Comayagua and Intibuca; a housing project run by CARE International, and a burgeoning micro-credit scheme associated with it; and many miles of restored and improved roads giving access to remote (but well-populated) regions which had been cut off by the hurricane.

President Flores was appreciative of UK help. He reiterated the need to make sure the large post-hurricane pledges of aid for Honduras were well spent. Like many others, he was concerned that EC aid, hampered by procedures in Brussels, would spend too slowly.

Development Minister Moises Starkman specifically asked for UK help in working up proposals for spending EC aid.

Last year the Minister made a preliminary assessment of DFID's regional assistance strategy. Following provisional agreement of the strategy last October, it was amended to allow for post-hurricane needs. DFID has worked since then on developing a programme which both responds to the need for reconstruction and fulfils its objective of working through multilateral organisations which are active in the region. Following his visit, the Minister's conclusions were:

(i) UK-funded post-hurricane activity has been useful. There may be ways of building on specific projects (e.g. micro-credit in Honduras and road improvement schemes);
(ii) given the large amount of additional money for the region post-hurricane, there is scope for the UK getting involved upstream in project development to help the multilateral organisations spend their money quickly and sensibly;
(iii) DFID should consider placing some UK-based staff in the region. The EC office in Managua would welcome UK attachments, to cover areas such as health or social development.