International Engagement

David Taylor Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Anneliese Dodds]

I am very grateful for that important question, and I am pleased to report that relations between the UK and the Republic of Korea are at their closest ever at the moment. The Downing Street accord between the UK and the Republic of Korea elevates our relationship to a global strategic partnership, placing the UK as second only to the US in terms of the strength of our bilateral partnership. The right hon. Gentleman is right to focus on the need to condemn the DPRK’s engagement in Ukraine, and indeed the UK Government have taken the same approach. I should add that decisions about South Korea’s activities relating to its military are of course for South Korea itself, but we are determined to work closely with it on this and many other issues.

[David Taylor (Hemel Hempstead) (Lab)]

I declare an interest, in that before being elected to represent the people of Hemel Hempstead I worked for the Fairtrade Foundation. The Minister will be aware, through her own support for fair trade, of the vital role that the foundation plays in supporting smallholder farmers, but of course there are millions of smallholder farmers around the world. I should be grateful if she could update the House on the ways in which the Government, through the World Bank, are supporting smallholder farmers and sustainable agriculture.

[Anneliese Dodds]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. He is right: it is an issue of which not only UK farmers and agriculture experts in our universities but the British public are deeply supportive, and the Government are determined to do what we can to support sustainable agriculture. We see, for example, very little climate finance going into that arena. More of it should be going there, which is why the UK is working with the US and, indeed, announced support for joint initiatives last week at the World Bank annual meeting.