§ Mr. Ivan LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's export licensing policy is towards Pakistan. [129447]
§ Mr. HainWe continue to assess export licence applications for Pakistan on a case-by-case basis against the national criteria and those in the EU Code of Conduct, taking into account the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Central (Mr. Lloyd) on 10 July 1998,Official Report, columns 687–88W. The Government have taken time to consider the situation in Pakistan and the wider region following the coup in October 1999 before deciding on a number of licence applications.
The Government have now refused 26 standard individual export licence applications for Pakistan. We have also refused Pakistan as a permitted destination on one open individual export licence and approved its inclusion on one other such licence. We have reached these decisions following careful consideration of each licence application against the stated criteria.
We remain concerned about defence exports to Pakistan, in the light of last year's incursion at the Kargil sector of the Line of Control in Kashmir, the military coup, the possibility of diversion to undesirable end-users and continued regional tensions. We have refused licences for certain military equipment to Pakistan because we do not judge that they meet our criteria.
The Government have issued 20 standard individual export licences for a narrow and well defined range of equipment, eg naval spares, bomb disposal equipment, goods for civilian end-users. We have assessed that issuing licences for this equipment would not contravene our national criteria, nor those in the EU Code of Conduct. Details of all licences issued will appear in the 2000 Annual Report.
220WWe will continue to assess licence applications on a case-by-case basis and keep the situation in Pakistan under close scrutiny.