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HIV/AIDS

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate his Department has made of the percentage of aid promised to developing countries at the G8 Gleneagles Summit that will go towards tackling HIV/AIDS. [67884]

Mr. Thomas: At the G8 Gleneagles Summit, commitments were made to increase aid to developing countries by US$50 billion per year by 2010. The percentage of this aid that will go towards tackling HIV and AIDS for all developing countries was not specified.

Of the additional $50 billion per year by 2010, $25billion will go to Africa. The best resource needs estimates have only considered global needs to 2008 and these suggest a resource gap of around $18 billion from 2006–2008 for AIDS-related programmes.

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate his Department has made of the cost of implementing the Gleneagles commitment to achieve universal access to anti-retroviral treatment for all HIV/AIDS sufferers by 2010. [67885]

Mr. Thomas: The Joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reports on global resource needs estimates for AIDS. Anti-retroviral treatment resource needs alone are not available. However, the UNAIDS have produced global resource needs estimates of the costs of scaling up a comprehensive response to AIDS, to get as close as possible to universal access by 2010. These estimates propose total global annual needs of US$15 billion in 2006, US$18 billion in 2007 and US$22 billion in 2008. The estimates include a range of services covering treatment, prevention and care for people made vulnerable by AIDS.

Global resource needs estimates have not yet been published for 2009 onwards.

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions his Department has had with the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS on interim targets towards the Government's G8 commitment to achieving universal access to anti-retroviral treatment for all HIV/AIDS sufferers by 2010. [67886]

Mr. Thomas: Since Gleneagles, the UK has taken a number of steps to advance the commitments on AIDS. These will be a central part of discussions at the UN General Assembly high level meeting (31 May-2 June 2006). In establishing the UN General Assembly high level meeting, the General Assembly resolution (23 December 2005), established a Global Steering
 
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Committee (GSC) on scaling up towards universal access which DFID co-chaired. Building on the recommendations of more than 100 national and seven regional consultations, the GSC advised the Joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on the priority actions required to scale up access to treatment, prevention and care for HIV and AIDS. These recommendations were incorporated in the UNAIDS report Towards Universal Access" published on 21 April 2006 for consideration at the UN General Assembly high level meeting. This report includes a recommendation that countries should set both interim targets for 2008, and 2010 targets in the areas of treatment, prevention and care.

The UK is now working with UNAIDS, the presidency of the General Assembly and other governments to press for a strong and ambitious Political Declaration at the UN General Assembly high level meeting on 2 June. We are working to agree a Declaration which incorporates the recommendations of the UNAIDS report; promotes and protects human rights, women's rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and harm reduction as central components of an effective response; and endorses the principle that no credible, sustainable country plan should go unfunded. We will continue these discussions in the run-up to the high level meeting in June.

Iraq

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what action the UK Government are taking to assist in the provision of clean drinking water for the people of Halabja in Iraq. [67378]

Mr. Thomas: Since 2003, DFID and other donors have worked hard to restore water supplies in Iraq. We estimate that 4 million more Iraqis have access to safe drinking water than before the conflict. In most cases, the main barrier to access to safe drinking water is the condition of the pipelines, rather than the water supply itself. This is partly due to the tendency for insurgents to target water, electricity and oil pipelines, as well as the reconstruction staff working to repair them. However, the poor condition of many pipelines is primarily the result of decades of underinvestment under Saddam's regime, which has left Iraq with crumbling infrastructure in desperate need of maintenance, and a shortage of trained engineers who know how to carry out repairs.

DFID's bilateral support for improving water and sanitation has been provided in southern Iraq, where our regional office is located and where UK military efforts to provide security are also focused. As Halabja is in the north of Iraq, DFID has! not been directly involved in supporting projects in the city. DFID's funding to the water sector in central and northern Iraq has been provided through the United Nations Trust Fund for Iraq, to which we contributed £30 million in 2004.

Significant donors in the water sector have been the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Development Programme, and UNICEF. The US recently completed a water well project to restore water supply to Halabja. They have also recently completed a broad assessment
 
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of the water and sewage services in Sulaymaniyah province, where Halabja is situated, to help plan future assistance to this sector.

In the south of Iraq, DFID is providing the following assistance to improve water and sanitation systems:

We have built a water training centre in Basra, which I opened in March this year. The training centre will help train water engineers from all four southern provinces. The expertise they gain will strengthen the ability of the local water directorates to deal with the huge amount of maintenance that is now required.

We are building three water towers in one of the poorest areas of Basra. These will ensure a steady availability of water to over 250,000 people.

We are co-funding, with UNICEF, the refurbishment of a desalination plant that will provide the people of Basra with 500,000 litres of clean drinking water per day.

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent reports he has received of the discussions between the International Monetary Fund and the Government of Iraq concerning oil policy; and if he will make a statement. [66772]

Mr. Thomas: While the UK is not party to discussions between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Iraqi Government, we understand that officials from the IMF and the Iraqi Ministry of Finance have held numerous discussions on economic policy since 2004. They have continued to meet with representatives of the Iraqi government, both in the region and in Washington, following the approval of the Stand-by Arrangement on 23 December 2005.

So far, most of their discussions have focussed on the implementation of the Iraqi Government's economic programme supported by the Stand-by Arrangement. The programme includes commitments to reorganise and improve governance of the oil sector. More details of the programme, as well as reports from IMF staff and the Government of Iraq's memorandums on economic and financial policies, are available on the IMF's website (www.imf.org).

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what role UK officials had in the International Monetary Fund technical assistance to Iraq on petroleum sector policies, dated January 2005; and if he will make a statement. [66773]

Mr. Thomas: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not assist the Government of Iraq directly on petroleum sector policies. Indirectly they do provide technical assistance in related areas e.g. the Iraqi Ministry of Finance have asked for assistance on how to tax natural resources, including a proposed 10 per cent. levy on oil imports.

In July 2003, the IMF established the £5.7 million Technical Assistance Sub-Account for Iraq at the request of the Governments of Australia, Canada, Italy, Sweden, India and the United Kingdom. The purpose of this programme is to provide training and advice to the Government of Iraq to help restore macroeconomic stability, and thus long-term sustainable economic growth. To date the IMF has delivered training to key staff in the Ministry of Finance on issues of fiscal management, monetary, foreign exchange and financial
 
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policy, as well as macro-economic and financial statistics. So far, DFID has made a contribution of £787,500 to the sub-account.

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