Baroness Hooper
Main Page: Baroness Hooper (Conservative - Life peer)
Baroness Sugg
I thank the noble Lord for his gracious welcome. I know that his Question stems from a long-standing interest and expertise in Africa. We welcome all initiatives to integrate African trade. At the G20 last month, the Prime Minister unveiled a package of new measures to boost trade with Africa and ensure that our aid spending benefits trade, ranging from help to integrate into global financial markets to working with the World Bank to nearly double the capacity of the Dar-es-Salaam port. The CDC Act, which your Lordships passed earlier this year, enables the UK to invest more in Africa to build on the 500,000 jobs that it helped to create there in 2016.
Baroness Hooper (Con)
My Lords, to what extent have our embassies and high commissions been equipped to deal with the proposed new trade relationships?
Baroness Sugg
The Department for International Trade is working with all embassies and high commissions. We have nearly 1,500 staff overseas and they are working closely with Governments to ensure that our trade spend is absolutely aligned with our aid.