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Sugar Protocol

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether under Common Agricultural Policy reform of the sugar protocol there are mechanisms in place to prevent short-term dumping on developing countries. [186323]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The European Commission presented a communication to the Agriculture Council on 19 July that set out their preferred option for reform. The communication proposes to substantially reduce sugar exports and export refunds, abolish intervention, reduce ELI production and the internal sugar price and grant a de-coupled payment to sugar beet farmers. The reform process will start in July 2005. This should make the regime more market oriented and reduce the quantity of EU sugar exported to third markets. If the option were to be agreed, the Commission estimate that the combined, aggregate effect of the proposals on support price and quota reduction would be a significant reduction in the level of EU production under quota, from 17.3 million to 14.5 million tonnes per year. In turn, as a consequence of the substantial reduction in the overall level of EU production, EU subsidised sugar exports dumping are projected to fall by around 2 million tonnes. The Commission communication will be the subject of discussion between the EU Member States over the coming months.
 
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Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether under Common Agricultural Policy reform of the sugar protocol there are transitional arrangements for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. [186324]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The European Commission (EC) presented a Communication to the Agriculture Council on 19 July that set out their preferred option for reform. To address the impact on the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP)s, the European Commission will work with affected countries on the basis of an action plan to be produced by the end of 2004 to define appropriate trade and development measures. Tailor made programmes should help ACPs adapt and improve the competitiveness of their sugar industry where viable or help to support their diversification out of sugar. DFID welcomes this commitment in the Communication and are keen to help facilitate the dialogue between the EC and the ACP on this action plan. DFID is commissioning a study from the Overseas Development Institute that should help those countries affected determine their priorities for a transitional package.

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether the Department is funding research into alternative uses for sugar, with particular reference to developing countries, in the light of Common Agricultural Policy reform of the sugar protocol. [186325]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has always stressed the need to take account of the impact that reform of the EU sugar regime will have on our developing country preferential suppliers. DFID is conscious that substantial reform will give rise to transitional problems for the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP)s that currently benefit from preferential access to the EU market at existing price levels and for the Least Developed Countries (LDC)s seeking to develop an export trade to Europe under the EBA initiative.

In order to help inform the debate and ensure the impact on developing countries is taken sufficiently into consideration, DFID commissioned a study last year with LMC International and Oxford Policy Management, 'Addressing the Impact of Preference Erosion in Sugar on Developing Countries'. The study is divided into two sections. The first part assesses the economic and social impact on the ACP Sugar Protocol countries of the various reform scenarios suggested by the European Commission. The latter part of the study assesses alternative options for addressing the impact of preference erosion in sugar. The purpose of this analysis was to identify various options for debate by the ACP and the EU.

DFID has recently commissioned two further pieces of work on this issue. The first report has been commissioned with LMC International, 'EU Sugar Reform: the Implications for the Development of LDCs and should be finalised early next month. The second report has been commissioned from the Overseas Development Institute, 'Forthcoming changes in EU sugar/banana markets: a menu of options for an effective EU transitional assistance package' and should also be finalised next month. This report should help
 
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those countries affected by reform determine their priorities for a transitional package. This report will include some analysis of alternative uses for sugar.

Vietnam

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) if he will outline his Department's strategy with regard to the Montagnard people of Vietnam since 1997; and if he will make a statement; [187268]

(2) how much (a) monetary aid and (b) aid in kind his Department has (i) pledged and (ii) delivered to projects directly impacting on the Montagnard people of Vietnam since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [187269]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The Department for International Development's (DFID) engagement in Vietnam since 1997 has focused on supporting the Vietnamese Government in implementing its own strategies for poverty reduction. In their five-year plans, the Government of Vietnam has highlighted the severe poverty issues facing the Central Highlands where the majority of the Montagnard people live.

From 1997 to 2003 DFID's strategy focused on working with other donors. During this period DFID has developed two projects with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which aim to improve the quality of services provided by the Vietnamese Government to poor people in four provinces of the Central Highlands region. The projects focus on greater participation by poor people in planning and monitoring services, which should ensure that the services provided are more appropriate and of better quality. In addition, DFID has funded UNICEF to improve water supplies to rural areas in three Central Highlands provinces.

In DFID's Vietnam Country Assistance Plan, 2004–06, a key strategic objective is to strengthen the Government's efforts to achieve development which is socially inclusive. In addition to the co-financed ADB projects mentioned above, DFID is currently addressing the development needs of the Montagnard people through co-financing a number of national programmes, which include Central Highlands provinces, districts and communes along with those in other poor areas of Vietnam. In education, our two national programmes with the World Bank, Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children and Primary Teachers Development Project, are strengthening the capacity of local government to improve the quality of primary education for all children. In transport, DFID is working with the World Bank to improve access to rural roads for poor people and building Government capacity to monitor and forecast associated recurrent budget costs. DFID also co-finance two United Nations Development Programme projects aimed at strengthening the capacities of the National Assembly and a number of provincial People's Councils, including several in the Central Highlands region.

The only programmes where DFID can explicitly disaggregate it's monetary aid, and aid in kind, for the Montagnard people are for our Rural Transport Programmes, and our Central Region Livelihoods Improvement Programme (CRLIP). Since 1997 our
 
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Rural Transport Programmes have disbursed £512, 427 in the two Central Highland provinces of Dak Lak and Gia Lai. The CRLIP has pledged £2,766,667 to the Central Highland Province of Kon Turn.
 
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The following table details monetary aid from DFID's national programmes that cover the Central Highlands provinces where most of the Montagnard people live in Vietnam.

Project title	Allocation (£)	Project duration	Project location
Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children (PEDC)	26,500,000	2003–09	38 provinces including four central highland provinces—Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Kon Turn, Lam Dong
Primary Teacher Development Project (PTDP)	8,256,000	2002–05	10 provinces including one central highland province—Kon Turn
Capacity Building for Central Region Poverty Reduction (CBCRPR)	1,800,000	2002–04	Four provinces including one central highland province—Kon Turn
Support to the Office of the National Assembly and People's Councils (ONA project)	330,000	2004–08	15 provinces including two central highland provinces—Dak Lak, Kon Turn
Support to the Committee for Economic and Budgetary Affairs (CEBA)	672,000	2003–08	11 provinces including one central highland province—Lam Dong
Vietnam: Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Programme—UNICEF Core Funding Project	2,880,000	1999–2002	14 provinces including three central highland provinces—Kon Turn, Gia Lai, Dak Lak

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