§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Minister in his Department has responsibility for the Global Conflict Prevention Pool; and what responsibilities other Departments have for the Pool. [133143]
§ Mr. RammellA review of the Government's work on conflict prevention in 1999–2000 concluded that delivery would be improved by bringing together in a more co-ordinated way the existing activities of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in this field. The Government therefore set up joint FCO/DFID/MoD Africa and Global Conflict Prevention Pools in 2000.
The Global Conflict Prevention Pool is overseen by a Cabinet Committee comprising my right hon. Friends the Foreign Secretary (the Chair), the Secretary of State for International Development, the Secretary of State for Defence and the Chief Secretary to HM Treasury. At Ministerial level, responsibility within the FCO rests with me.
The inter-departmental, tripartite management of the Pool is maintained at all official levels, including in the GCPP Steering Team and in the management teams for GCPP geographical and thematic strategies. While the FCO holds the Chair of the GCPP, responsibility for its management is shared equally between all three Departments.
§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which countries the Global Conflict Prevention Pool has been active; and when meetings with(a) the UN, (b) the EU and (c) state representatives regarding conflict prevention were held. [133144]
§ Mr. RammellThe Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP) works through a wide range of programmes grouped under geographical, regional, thematic or international capacity building strategies. Its geographical strategies are:
- Afghanistan;
- The Balkans;
- Belize and Guatemala;
- Central and Eastern Europe
714W - Indonesia and East Timor;
- India and Pakistan;
- Iraq, The Middle East and North Africa;
- Nepal;
- Russia and the Former Soviet Union;
- Sri Lanka.
The GCPP also has the following thematic and international capacity building strategies:
- Security Sector Reform;
- Small Arms Light Weapons;
- OSCE and the Council of Europe;
- The UN.
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to him today (UIN 133142) for more details on these strategies.
Meetings to discuss conflict prevention with representatives of the UN, EU and of particular states take place regularly. Examples include UK participation in negotiations and discussions in the UN General Assembly and Security Council, and with the UN Secretariat, in the EU Political and Security Committee and during bilateral meetings with visiting Ministers and officials. Recent meetings include a visit to the UK in June for discussions of UN Reform by Jean-Mairie Guehenno, Head of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in the UN Secretariat, negotiations on the UN General Assembly Resolution on the Secretary General's Report on Conflict Prevention in June and July, a call by the Swedish Ambassador for Conflict Prevention on the FCO in September, and bilateral discussions with the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai during his visit to the UK in October 2003.