Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Daniel Kawczynski and Lord Sharma

Wednesday 29th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

6. What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on increasing bilateral trade with developing countries.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Alok Sharma)]

Our Departments work together to ensure that development is at the heart of UK trade policy. This includes delivering the successful UK-Africa Investment Summit, where we announced the trade connect service. The service will help developing countries to make the most of preferential access to UK markets and support UK firms to strengthen their supply chains in developing countries.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. Increasing the number of women in the workforce is key to economic growth. What support is DFID giving to women entrepreneurs?

[Alok Sharma]

I commend my hon. Friend’s support for entrepreneurship in his constituency and more widely. The UK is absolutely committed to increasing women’s role in trade, recognising the importance of trade as a lever for equality. That is why we recently announced an extension to the Commonwealth SheTrades programme, which provides training and mentoring to female entrepreneurs and connects them to international markets and investment opportunities.

Britain’s Place in the World

Debate between Daniel Kawczynski and Lord Sharma

Tuesday 15th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

I have to say that the hon. Gentleman is always incredibly negative about the future of the country. I wish that he would be more positive. I wish that he would actually support the Union. He wants to break up our country, and we on the Conservative Benches do not want that.

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend has talked about the importance of the United Kingdom’s helping and engaging with third world countries. Does he agree that when we pull out of the European Union, we will be able to give Commonwealth and third world countries much greater access to our marketplace than the current protectionist racket of the European Union?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Daniel Kawczynski and Lord Sharma

Tuesday 21st February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

As I have said, we of course enjoy very close trade relations with Japan. When I was in Japan last year, I met Japanese companies. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the biggest ever acquisition in the UK out of Asia was the acquisition of ARM Holdings by SoftBank for £24 billion.

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

Will the Minister engage with his Japanese counterpart to get the latest assessment of Japan’s attempts to resolve its dispute with Russia over the Kuril islands?

[Alok Sharma]

We of course maintain close links with Japan—and, in fact, with all our allies—on matters related to security, and we continue to have dialogues across a range of issues, including those that my hon. Friend has raised.