§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will initiate interdepartmental discussions between Ministers and officials to re-examine the role the United Kingdom might play to 46WA provide support for the Council of Europe Development Bank, as well as in involvement in its work; and, if not, why not. [HL3998]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalAlthough the UK decision not to join the Council of Europe Development Bank (CoEDB) was taken long ago, the Government have been prepared to reconsider. Last year, the FCO consulted the Department for International Development and the Treasury on the merits of joining at that stage. From the UK point of view, the CoEDB appears to fall between the two stools of aid agency for Central and Eastern Europe and source of loans to its members on highly favourable terms. Since the bulk of the fund's lending is to Western European countries, the UK could not justify charging the very large membership costs to our development aid programme, where we are confined to participating in programmes which benefit aid-recipient countries. Nor could we justify the costs in terms of commercial benefit, either on grounds that such loan facilities are not otherwise available or that the benefits warrant transferring the resources required from other activities.