Written Statement of 6 July 2004

  UNAIDS
  The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos):
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development has made the following Statement.

  I am announcing today a new commitment of £36 million over four years (2004–07) for UNAIDS (the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS). This will support the UNAIDS secretariat, its country co-ordinators, and the 10 co-sponsor agencies that together make up the Joint Programme1. The new commitment represents a tripling of our core funding to UNAIDS compared with the past four years. DfID is finalising a new UK strategic partnership with UNAIDS to accompany the multi-year financing arrangement, linked to UNAIDS' own work programme. DfID is also increasing its direct funding to several co-sponsor agencies including the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

  UK funding will enable UNAIDS to expand its work to ensure developing countries affected by HIV and AIDS can access appropriate and co-ordinated support from donors. UNAIDS will be working with governments to take forward the "Three Ones" initiative, which stresses the responsibility donors have to work through one national HIV and AIDS action plan, through one co-ordinating authority and to work to one monitoring and evaluation framework in each country.

  UK funding will also support UNAIDS' advocacy work. This includes helping to ensure new or neglected issues are taken up, and building partnerships across government, the private sector and civil society. UNAIDS will be working with the World Health Organisation and others to ensure that treatment programmes address equity and access issues and that a proper balance is maintained between prevention and treatment. UK funding will also support UNAIDS' technical work, including helping countries to access new funding and ensuring it is used properly. UNAIDS has a strong track record in this area.

  1 The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the UN Education and Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Bank, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

  Sexual and Reproductive Health
  Baroness Amos: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Hilary Benn) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
  I am today publishing a DfID position paper on sexual and reproductive health and rights. It describes progress to date and sets out what remains to be done. It will form the basis for planning future investment and activities. The paper complements the UK's Call for Action on HIV/AIDS and DfID's target strategy papers on Better Health for Poor People and Realising Human Rights for Poor People.
  The paper recognises sexual and reproductive health and rights as central to human development and to achieving the millennium development goals. The UK is firmly committed to the programme of action of the International Conference on Population and Development of 1994 and its targets of reproductive health for all by 2015. The paper states our continued commitment to work with country governments and partners to achieve improved maternal and newborn health, accessible, high quality family planning choices, elimination of unsafe abortion, reduced incidence of HIV and sexually transmitted infections, greater awareness of sexual health and reduced risky behaviour.
  The paper recognises the progress that has been made since 1994, but also highlights new challenges, including the increased burden of HIV and AIDS. DfID will use opportunities to integrate HIV and sexual and reproductive health services in ways that respond better to people's needs, especially those of women and young people.
  I am placing a copy of the paper in the Library of the House. It is also available on DfID's website at www.dfid.gov.uk.
  Today I am announcing increased funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UK will be providing £80 million over four years (2004–07) in core funding to UNFPA to support its work on sexual and reproductive health and rights, population and development, and gender. UNFPA's work is also a critical part of HIV/AIDS prevention efforts within the framework of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

  Intelligence and Security Committee: Annual Report 2003–04
  Baroness Amos:
  My right honourable friend the Prime Minister has today laid before the House the Government's response to the Intelligence and Security Committee's annual report for 2003–04. Copies have also been placed in the Libraries of the House.

  Iraq: Export Licence Applications
  The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean):
  Following consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Trade and Industry recently approved two licences to export military list goods to Iraq. The arms embargo against Iraq remains in place under United Nations Security

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  Council Resolutions 1483 (22 May 2003) and 1546 (8 June 2004). UNSCR 1483 (2003) includes an exception for "arms and related materiel required by the (Coalition Provisional) Authority to serve the purposes of this and other related resolutions".

  Accordingly, prior to the hand over of power on 28 June and the Coalition Provisional Authority ceasing to exist, Her Majesty's Government considered it appropriate to grant licences for the export of the military listed goods on these two applications for use by private security companies, one working under contract to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the other working under contract to the Coalition Provisional Authority, the US Department of State and the project management office in Iraq. The licences are consistent with the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria. Future applications will continue to be assessed on a case by case basis against the UN embargo and consolidated criteria, taking into account the circumstances prevailing at the time.

  Trade and Investment White Paper
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville):
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Hewitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  I am today publishing the White Paper on Trade and Investment, entitled Making Globalisation a Force for Good.

  This White Paper is being published at a pivotal moment in the history of the international trade agenda. The European Union and the new European Commissioners taking up their posts this autumn will have a vital role in ensuring the benefits of globalisation are delivered in Europe and beyond, notably through the completion of the WTO Doha development agenda.

  The White Paper presents a positive vision of globalisation and Britain's approach to trade and the WTO negotiations, to achieving our objectives of boosting prosperity at home and fighting poverty overseas. It explains how countries benefit as much, if not more, from opening their own markets as from persuading others to open theirs.

  The White Paper therefore presents a series of challenges to the European Union. In order to thrive in a globalising world, the EU has to redouble its efforts to improve its own competitiveness. At the same time, it needs to look outwards, placing new policies and regulations in a global context. The EU, together with other developed countries, has to reject the mercantilist approach to trade which prizes only exports and inward investment as opposed to international trade and investment as a whole.
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  Specifically, it must tackle the continued harmful effects of the common agricultural policy. The EU and other developed countries should commit to eliminate export subsidies, to make further reductions in trade-distorting domestic support and to reduce agricultural tariff peaks towards the maximum levels allowed for non-agricultural products.

  The White Paper describes the changing nature of international trade and investment. International trade is moving away from traditional patterns of imports and exports towards a world of global partnerships and joint ventures. Government services to UK companies have to respond to this. I announced in this House on 1 July the new arrangements which we are setting in place for the Export Credits Guarantee Department. The White Paper also sets out the role of UK Trade and Investment—the Government's lead national provider of international trade and investment support for business.

  The White Paper sets out how we think international trade and investment can and should work to reduce poverty in the poorest countries. The need to reduce poverty—working towards the millennium development goals—is a key challenge for this Government.

  To fight poverty, the EU and other developed countries must tackle the barriers—both tariffs and non-tariff barriers such as excessively burdensome technical regulations—which currently prevent poor countries selling to us.

  The evidence shows that the developing countries that have been more successful in fighting poverty tend to be those that have opened their own markets to international trade. But we have learnt that developing countries need to open their markets in a properly sequenced way as part of a broader plan for their economic development and poverty reduction.

  In order to benefit from international trade and investment, the poorest countries need to put in place a full range of complementary policies. We need to work with these countries to help them to tackle the key challenges: health, education, the transport and communications infrastructure, good governance and effective social protection.

  This White Paper has been produced following widespread consultation with interested parties in the UK. We are grateful to everyone who has helped us and we look forward to continuing a dialogue on these issues.

  In the mean time I look forward to working with ministerial colleagues in other countries—both inside and outside the EU—to win the argument against protectionism and mercantilism in international trade. We will take the opportunity of the UK presidencies of the EU and of the G8 next year to take this forward.

  I am confident that this White Paper will contribute to pursuing the UK's objectives in the area of international trade and investment.

  Public Expenditure: Provisional Outturn 2003–04
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey)
  My right honourable friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Paul Boateng) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  The Treasury will publish the 2003–04 public expenditure provisional outturn White Paper on Tuesday 20 July.
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  The White Paper is an annual report to Parliament on the provisional outturn for public expenditure. It focuses on spending within departmental expenditure limits (DEL) and annually managed expenditure (AME), including information on individual supply estimates and administration costs limits.

  The outturn figures are described as provisional because they may be revised when department's final accounts are published, usually in the autumn.

  A copy of the White Paper will be available in the Libraries of the House and will be accessible on the Treasury website.