§ Mr. PurchaseTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she has recently reviewed the effectiveness of United Kingdom development efforts in Zimbabwe. [157802]
§ Clare ShortI have since 1997 kept our development programme in Zimbabwe under regular review. We remain committed to helping the poorest in Zimbabwe who are suffering the combined effect of economic mismanagement and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. But the situation in Zimbabwe is difficult and we continue to work only where we are confident our support can be effective.
For this reason we have today written to the Zimbabwe Government informing them that we are ending our support to the Privatisation Agency of Zimbabwe and to a Trade Policy Capacity Building Programme. In the continued absence of Government policies likely to reverse current economic decline and reduce poverty, I concluded that these projects were likely to have little beneficial impact for the people of Zimbabwe.