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Cyprus

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of how the proposed EU package of trade and air links to northern Cyprus will assist in achieving a settlement. [185157]

Mr. MacShane: The EU package of measures for northern Cyprus is designed to put an end to the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community by facilitating economic growth. We believe that enabling direct trade between northern Cyprus and the rest of the EU is an essential element of that strategy. Furthermore, direct trade will reduce the economic disparity between the north and south of the island and will help to bring the Turkish Cypriots in to line with the EU acquis. Narrowing the economic divide between the north and south will remove a major obstacle to a future settlement to the Cyprus problem.

Direct air links with northern Cyprus are not covered by the Commission proposals. We are actively looking at this issue.

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about his recent discussions with Mr. Talat, leader of the Turkish Cypriots and Mr. Iakovou, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cyprus. [185158]

Mr. MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and I met Mr. Talat on 1 July. We discussed a number of Cyprus related issues and encouraged Mr. Talat to continue to pursue a pro-EU policy. Mr. Talat assured us that he would continue to work for a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem.

I met the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cyprus at the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 12 July. I briefed him on the recent debates on Cyprus in this House. We also discussed Mr. Talat's recent visit to the UK.
 
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Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the exclusion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the Kimberley process. [184225]

Mr. Rammell: The expulsion of the Republic of Congo from the Kimberley Process followed a report by a visiting team drawn from others in the Process on the discrepancy between the Republic of Congo's substantial exports of rough diamonds and its limited production. The report concluded that the Republic of Congo failed to meet agreed minimum common standards and was therefore undermining the credibility of the Kimberley Process. We support the decision to expel and stand ready to consider any request from the Republic of Congo for technical assistance to help it meet the standard required and thereby eventually re-join the Process.

Departmental Annual Report

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many copies of his Department's annual report were printed in each year since 1997; how many were sold in each year; and what the (a) publication costs and (b) sales revenue were. [183885]

Mr. Straw: Production of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Departmental Report 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 cost the Department £24,453. Due to new printing arrangements, these costs to the Department are 25 per cent. lower than for the 2003 Report. Other costs are met by the publisher, The Stationery Office Ltd. (TSO).

1,900 copies of this year's report were printed of which 1,350 are distributed internally at a price which covers printing costs and 550 copies are retained by TSO. The report is also available free of charge on the FCO website: www.fco.gov.uk. I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) on 6 May 2004, Official Report, column 1731W, for further details.

TSO does not divulge its sales revenues, which depend on the extent to which it chooses to sell copies at a discount. Nor does TSO provide the total number of copies printed in previous years. However, the number of copies sold by TSO, and the number supplied to the FCO for internal use, is listed in the table. Statistics for the 1997 edition are not available.

Edition	Copies sold by TSO	Copies supplied to FCO
1998	626	1,682
1999	542	1,527
2000	513	1,438
2001	564	1,447
2002	525	1,412
2003	426	1,340
2004	(42)315	1,350

⁽⁴²⁾ Interim figure. The sales profile for previous years indicates that TSO can expect to sell a further 95 copies, bringing the total for the year to approximately 410.



 
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EU-Israel Association Agreement

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the effect of a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement on (a) the Israeli and (b) the Palestinian economy. [184057]

Mr. MacShane: The Government do not believe that suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement would help bring Israel and the Palestinians nearer to a just and lasting negotiated settlement. The Government have therefore made no detailed assessment of the implications of a suspension of the Agreement.

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the EU concerning suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. [184058]

Mr. MacShane: The Government do not believe that suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement would help bring Israel and the Palestinians nearer to a just and lasting negotiated settlement. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has therefore had no recent discussions with his EU counterparts concerning the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the value in euros of the EU-Israel Association Agreement to the economies of (a) the EU, (b) UK, (c) Israel and (d) Palestine in the last year for which figures are available. [184059]

Mr. MacShane: The Government do not have estimates of the monetary value of the EU/Israel Association Agreement to any of its parties. A large part of the Agreement's benefit to Israel lies in the confidence and sense of normality it provides to domestic business and foreign workers. In other circumstances the economic benefit the Agreement brings to Israel would also benefit the Palestinian economy. At present, the effects of the conflict more than nullify that benefit.

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with members of the Quartet concerning the effects of suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. [184061]

Mr. MacShane: The Government supports the work of the Quartet (UN, US, Russia, EU) in supporting Israel and the Palestinians to return to a political process in order to reach a just and lasting negotiated settlement. We do not believe that suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement would help in this regard. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has therefore not discussed the effects of suspension of the EU/Israel Association Agreement with other Quartet members.

Hong Kong

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his policy on universal suffrage for the people of Hong Kong. [184027]

Mr. Rammell: We have consistently said that we would hope to see early progress towards the Basic Law's ultimate aim of universal suffrage for the election
 
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of the Chief Executive and Legislative Council at a pace in line with the wishes of the people of Hong Kong. We have made this position clear on many occasions to the Chinese authorities and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

Iran

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations the Government have made to the Government of Iran on the imprisonment of Ebrahim Khodabandeh and Jamil Bassam who had previously been granted asylum in the UK. [184316]

Mr. Rammell: We have raised the imprisonment of Ebrahim Khodabandeh and Jamil Bassam with the Iranian Government many times, on human rights grounds. We have urged the Iranian authorities to ensure that the men are well treated and, if charged, given a fair and open trial with recourse to proper legal representation. We have no right of consular access to the two men, who are not British nationals. But we have encouraged the Iranian authorities to allow international monitoring visits.

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