Examination of Witnesses (Questions 360
- 361)
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2007
DR KIM HOWELLS, MR DAVID QUARREY AND MR MICHAEL ANDERSON
Q360 Lord Anderson of Swansea:
We have talked about co-ordination within the European Union and
clearly added Norway as well. What about co-ordination with aid
from other quarters, thinking particularly of that from the United
States and that from the wider Arab world; is that satisfactory?
Mr Anderson: We have been working very hard
on co-ordinating more closely with Arab donors and there was a
meeting on 4 February which the UK initiated of the European donors
plus the Arab donors to establish better means of communication
on objectives and assistance for co-ordinating. It is an area
where we have not been good enough in the past and we need to
be better.
Q361 Lord Anderson of Swansea:
And the US?
Mr Anderson: The US has the particular difficulty
that before they co-ordinate with anyone else they need to co-ordinate
amongst themselves and, if I may be honest, that does tend to
take up so much of their energy and time that by the time they
achieve some internal co-ordination there is very little room
for manoeuvre left to co-ordinate with others.
Chairman: Mr Anderson, we are very grateful
to have had the chance to have this further session with you.
As you know, this Committee is responsible not merely for looking
at the European Union's foreign and defence policies but also
to carry out general supervision of development policy, and of
course last year when we were looking at Africa that was very
much one of the focuses of our attention. I am sure we will have
a chance to return to these issues, particularly after some of
the recent proposals of Commissioner Michel on greater co-ordination,
and we will look forward to seeing you and your colleagues on
that occasion, but can I on this occasion say how pleased we are
with the evidence you have given, which I know is going to be
of very considerable value when we come to prepare our report.
Thank you very much indeed.
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