Oral Answers to Questions

Gavin Williamson Excerpts

Tuesday 6th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Jessica Lee (Erewash) (Con)]

4. What his most recent assessment is of the state of UK-Zimbabwe relations.

[Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con)]

8. What his most recent assessment is of the state of UK-Zimbabwe relations.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)]

We want to do all that we can to support the aspirations of the Zimbabwean people for a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Zimbabwe. We will work with reformers in Zimbabwe and the region to maximise the prospects for achieving the reforms necessary for properly conducted elections.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hague]

The European Union, including the United Kingdom, has called for efforts to reach agreement through the Kimberley process so that all mining in the Marange fields in Zimbabwe are subject to it. In that way, diamonds could actually help the economic development of Zimbabwe in future. We would like to sort that out within the Kimberley process, so that those diamonds can then be used productively.

[Gavin Williamson]

What action is my right hon. Friend taking with other African nations to ensure that Zimbabwe adopts a new constitution and ends the endemic corruption within the country?

[Mr Hague]

We work closely with our partners around Africa, foremost among which, of course, is South Africa. We support its efforts and those of President Zuma to engage closely with Zimbabwe and to push it towards reform. We—the UK and other donors—also support, through the UN development programme, the implementation of the Zimbabwean constitution. Given the concerns that my hon. Friend and others have raised, I should say that that happens not through direct funding of the Zimbabwean Government, but through that UN programme.