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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH

BG Group

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library copies of the reports which were compiled by the secondee from BG Group to the British Embassy in Indonesia in 2001 on the strengthening of official organisations in that country. [89461]

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Mr. Rammell: I have today asked for this report to be placed in the Library of the House.

Brazil

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek an early meeting with the Government of President Lula of Brazil to discuss debt and environmental issues. [93116]

Mr. Rammell: During my visit to Brazil from 14–18 December I discussed various issues, including the economy and environment, with Ministers-designate of President Lula's future Government. We hope to build on these discussions through a series of senior bilateral exchanges early this year. We have invited President Lula to make an early visit to the UK.

Cuba

Mr. Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions the Government has had with the Government of the USA on its policies on trade between UK companies and Cuba. [91680]

Mr. Rammell: Our Embassy in Washington and Ministers and officials in the FCO and the Department of Trade and Industry frequently discuss a range of trade issues with their US counterparts. These include from time to time, trade with Cuba in the context of the US Helms-Burton legislation. The UK and the EU oppose this legislation because of its extraterritorial effect.

Diplomatic Staff

Mr. Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the complement was of diplomatic staff in each of the Arabic-speaking capitals in the Middle East in each year since 1990; and if he will make a statement. [92934]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The table shows the number of UK-based staff in our Middle East posts from 1990. The figures include all those staff whose salaries are paid by the FCO and other Government Departments.

Country	Post	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Syria	Damascus	8	14	17	17	17	19	18	17	17	17	17	14	14
Lebanon	Beirut	6	6	7	6	7	7	7	7	8	8	8	9	8
Jordan	Amman	33	34	34	33	33	34	33	32	31	31	31	26	23
Iraq	Baghdad	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Saudi Arabia	Riyadh	38	38	38	37	36	36	36	35	34	33	33	29	25
Yemen	Sana'a	8	8	8	8	9	8	7	8	9	9	9	8	8
Oman	Muscat	20	19	18	19	19	16	16	16	17	17	17	16	15
UAE	Abu Dhabi	19	19	18	18	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	15	13
UAE	Dubai	26	26	25	25	22	21	22	23	23	23	23	19	15
Qatar	Doha	10	10	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	11	11
Kuwait	Kuwait	23	23	22	22	20	19	19	19	19	19	19	17	16
Bahrain	Bahrain	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	12	13
Egypt	Cairo	39	37	37	37	36	34	32	34	34	35	32	37	32

Energy Supplies (Security)

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he intends to take to bolster the security of energy supplies. [92176]

Mr. Rammell: Energy security is a key element of energy policy, security of energy supplies is one of the issues being looked at in the forthcoming Energy White Paper.

Government Payments

Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what payments

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have been made to (a) Turkey, (b) Syria and (c) Jordan by the Government in each of the last three years; for what purpose; and if he will make a statement. [87412]

Mr. Straw: Government funding for projects in the above countries for the last three years totals:

	£
(a) Turkey	6,972,416
(b) Syria	429,800
(c) Jordan	21,078,129

We have made no direct financial payments to these Governments, rather we have provided services in the form of training, expertise and equipment. These figures are approximate and may not be exhaustive. A breakdown of expenditure is set out as follows:

Breakdown of Expenditure

(a) Turkey

Funds: Purpose—to help Turkey meet the Copenhagen Political Criteria and to help Turkey address issues of importance to the UK. These include:

EU Action Plan: past projects include funding the Ministry of the Interior's and Ministry of Education's participation in the British Council Seminar in the UK on 'Communicating Human Rights'.


Human Rights Project Fund (HRPF): past projects include human rights training for


the Jandarma in custody, detention and public order policing.


Global Conflict Prevention Fund (GCPF): past projects include an anti-smuggling/customs course.


Defence Assistance Fund (DAF): past projects include English language training for Turkish officers at the BMEC English Language School in Beaconsfield. The DAF may be used to defray the cost, in full or in part, of bilateral activities such as training activities which provide a direct defence benefit. The use of the fund is determined by the country priorities set out in the Defence Assistance Plan.


Drugs and Crime Fund (DCF): past projects include customs training.


(Other small funds include the Environmental programme budget and project fund)

Turkey

	£
EU Action Plan
2000–01	n/a
2001–02	149,454
2002–03	(17)150,000
HRPF
2000–01	306,333
2001–02	311,409
2002–03	167,708
DAF Allocation
2000–01	571,000
2001–02	608,000
2002–03	356,000
GCPF
2000–01	n/a
2001–02	(18)156,640
2002–03	(17)169,700
DCF
2000–01	108,515
2001–02	672,690
2002–03	(19)261,967

⁽¹⁷⁾ Allocated

⁽¹⁸⁾ Spent

⁽¹⁹⁾ This does not include a UNDCP amount of £550,000 which may be allocated to Turkey projects.

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There is no Department for International Development (DfID) programme in Turkey however DfID did provide £1.5 million in humanitarian assistance in 1999–2000 following a major earthquake and £283,000 in 2000–01.

(b) Syria

Our Embassy in Damascus runs a DfID-funded Small Grants Scheme. The FCO runs small projects in Syria under the Global Conflict Prevention Fund. We also fund Chevening Scholarship and sponsored visits programmes.

Syria

	£
DfID
1999–2000	119,000
2000–01	75,000
2001–02	80,000
GCPF (formerly ASSIST)
1999–2000	18,880
2000–01	50,000
2001–02	27,000

Bilateral defence relations with Syria have improved. Over the past two years, the MOD has established a programme of assistance with the Syrians worth about £30,000 annually. This money is spent on funding Syrian candidates on courses such as English Language Training.

(c) Jordan

DfID's support to Jordan is set out in the table. This consists of debt relief, aid trade provision and technical assistance. The FCO funds small projects under the Global Conflict Prevention Fund. We also fund Chevening Scholarship, sponsored visits programmes and human rights projects.

The MOD has an extensive bilateral programme of assistance with Jordan costing in the region of £400,000 annually. These funds are spent on providing course places to the Jordanian Armed Forces and in-country training. Their largest project to date with the Jordanians was the gifting of Challenger I Tanks, a project that began in August 1999 and is ongoing. This was a gift from the UK Government to the Jordanian Government, not a direct payment.

Jordan

	£
DfID
1999–2000	6,310,000
2000–01	6,298,000
200–02	6,433,000
GCPF (formerly ASSIST)
1999–2000	190,031
2000–01	220,000
200–02	427,098

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I will write the right hon. Member with more details and place a copy in the Library.

Heritage Assets

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what sales of heritage assets and antique assets have been made by his Department since May 1997; if he will list such assets; and if he will estimate the total sales proceeds. [92375]

Mr. Rammell: The FCO holds very few heritage assets. We do however own many antiques and other valuable items that are used as working, operational, assets. The only such items that we have sold since 1997 have been: one antique carpet, one tea table, three armchairs, one sofa, one lectern, one bookcase, one dining table. The total sales proceeds after commission was £21,424.

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