Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alan Duncan and George Freeman

Wednesday 31st October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan]

We are well aware of the access restrictions to safe drinking water in the west bank and Gaza. The UK Government regularly discuss these issues with Israel, and we continue to call for the full implementation of the relaxation of access restrictions for Gaza that Israel announced in June 2010.

[George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)]

5. What steps her Department is taking to use its aid budget to support strategic trading alliances between the UK and emerging nations.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Alan Duncan)]

The European Union leads on trade negotiations for its member states. DFID considers trade to be a key element to sustainable poverty reduction in developing countries. It helps to generate wealth, create jobs and raise incomes. We work with others to help to strengthen the multilateral trading system, and we provide practical support to enable poor countries to participate more effectively in international trade.

[George Freeman]

I thank the Minister for that answer. Given that the best form of aid is trade, and given the urgent need to rebalance our trade away from the sclerotic eurozone and the potential of our world-class biosciences to tackle food security, does the Minister agree that there is a huge opportunity, through strategic collaborations in agricultural science, to unlock relationships with emerging nations such as India to the benefit of us both?

[Mr Duncan]

The UK’s aid budget is, of course, untied, but technology transfer is an increasingly important part of DFID’s programme. For example, through our AgResults programme, we will harness technological innovation so that we can improve agricultural productivity and food security in some of the world’s poorest countries. Part of the Government’s strategy for life sciences is to export the benefits of our research to the developing world.