§ 16. Mr. Stephen O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on UK aid to Tanzania. [143211]
§ Clare ShortWe expect to provide £65 million in development assistance to Tanzania this financial year. This is disbursed under the terms of a Country Strategy Paper agreed with the Government of Tanzania in June 1999. I discussed our joint work when I visited Tanzania in April 2000.
Tanzania continues to make important progress in introducing structural reforms and stabilising its economy. Both this and an increasing focus on poverty reduction in government spending makes it likely that Tanzania will qualify for debt reduction under the HIPC initiative, reaching completion point later this year.
The recently finalised Tanzania Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) sets out the Government of Tanzania's medium-term strategy to meet the international development targets. My Department is currently considering how we can best offer further support for this.