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Middle East
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support his Department provided for good governance and democracy within the Arab world in each of the last five years, broken down by country; and what support is planned for each country for the 2005–06 financial year. [41180]
Dr. Howells:
As part of the Global Opportunities Fund (GOF) launched by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary in May 2003, the engaging with the Islamic World programme is designed to promote the rule of law, increased participation of women, economic reform and good governance initiatives in the Islamic World. The following table shows funding allocated in
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support of good governance and democracy projects within the Arab world in 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06. Examples of projects supported can be found in the Global Opportunities Fund annual report which is available in the Library of the House.
Prior to the launching of GOF, a significant proportion of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Middle East and North Africa directorate (MENAD) programme budget was used to support good governance and democracy in the region. MENAD's directorate programme budget was £1,017,176 in 2001–02, £1,304,100 in 2002–03, £1,147,505 in 2003–04, £1,363,505 in £2004–05, and £1,099,884 in 2005–06.
More widely, through our membership of the EU we contribute towards the EU Mediterranean Partnership which since 1995 has provided southern Mediterranean countries with financial support—around £1 billion Euros a year in grants and another £2 billion Euros a year in loans. Details of EU assistance per country and per project can be found at http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/med/bilateral_en.htm
The Euromed summit in Barcelona in November, which the UK chaired as EU presidency, agreed to establish a substantial governance facility to help Southern Mediterranean countries which make progress on good governance.
Moldova
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is towards Moldova joining the European Union. [41810]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Moldova has not applied for membership of the European Union. We continue to encourage Moldova to implement the reforms set out in the jointly agreed European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan, which was launched in February 2005. In this context, the Government welcome Moldova's European aspirations and strongly supports efforts to promote economic and political reforms, aimed at bringing Moldova closer to EU standards.