§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the granting of a licence to Wessex Exploration to survey for oil in the occupied land of the Western Sahara; and what the status is of the UN policy towards such exploitation. [179312]
§ Mr. Rammell[holding answer 18 June 2004]: I have been asked to reply.
1497WWe regard the sovereignty of Western Sahara as undetermined pending United Nations efforts to find a solution to the dispute over the territory. We fully support the efforts of the UN Secretary-General to find a fair and lasting solution. The UN Legal Counsel gave an opinion on the signing of contracts for exploration of mineral resources in Western Sahara in 2002 (S/2002/161 of 12 Feb 2002). We fully support this advice.
We are aware of contracts between both the Moroccan Government and the Polisario with various international oil and gas companies We have not been involved in these deals.