Latin America

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Excerpts

Thursday 7th December 2023 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the 15 seconds and I have used them up already. I thank all noble Lords for their insightful contributions and join, rightly, in praising and recognising the long service of my noble friend Lady Hooper. I pay tribute to her for tabling this debate and for her work as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, mentioned that his place on the Order Paper had changed. There may be a general election on the horizon, but I fear that his place on the Order Paper may remain much the same—

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

Well, he might move.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

You never know. That really is going to be a question. Anyway, I say to the noble Lord, Lord Collins, that we have used up more than 15 seconds. I also acknowledge the presence of Their Excellencies the Ambassadors of both Costa Rica and Peru. I praise my noble friend Lady Hooper for her timing. Yes, I am not the Minister for South America, but I have just come back from there. I was in Colombia with Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Edinburgh, and I will come on to that in a moment.

It is appropriate, right at the start, to declare one’s interests. As my noble friend Lord Effingham declared the interests of his wife, I have to declare that my sister-in-law, as the ambassador knows, is Peruvian, so I assure him that in the Ahmad household, Peru is a subject that we often talk about.

This, as my noble friend Lord Naseby recognised, is also an important anniversary for many countries in Latin America: it marks the 200th anniversary of our relationship with many countries in that region. Our modern-day partnerships are founded on our shared values. As the noble Lord, Lord Collins, rightly said about the integrated review, those four key pillars of values, climate, trade and security are very much the cornerstone, and we continue to be focused on those.

The noble Lord, Lord Liddle, talked about the importance of values, which are central. Many but not all countries in South America are democracies and we need to work with them to build enduring friendships. I say at the outset that my noble friend Lady Hooper’s timing is impeccable, because we face challenges and a new President in the region. First, I turn to the situation in Guyana and Venezuela. As Minister for the UN, in every General Assembly high-level week I have often attended the appropriate meeting and restated the UK’s position that the border was settled in 1899 through international arbitration. That remains the case, but I know that my noble friend the Foreign Secretary is very focused on this and I assure the noble Lords, Lord Griffiths, Lord Collins and Lord Brennan, my noble friend Lady Hooper and the noble Viscount, Lord Waverley, that we are very seized of the current situation. I know this would have been a focus of my noble friend’s recent discussions in Washington.

The noble Viscount, Lord Waverley, talk about sanctions. He knows that I cannot go further on that, but I can share with him that the UK has sanctioned 41 Venezuelans under our Venezuelan autonomous global human rights and anti-corruption frameworks. We do not have sectoral sanctions on Venezuela and I am not going to speculate further, but of course we are watching the situation very carefully.

On the issue of President-elect Milei’s success in Argentina, I am sure I speak for the whole House in congratulating him on his election as the next President. As fellow G20 members, we look forward to developing a strong relationship. It is interesting that one of the first actions he announced was to cut back on government departments: he is taking it down to eight, I was reading. We have a long history with Argentina, of course, and we are keen that our constructive collaboration continues. For the record, I assure the noble Viscount, Lord Waverley, and the noble Lords, Lord Collins and Lord Purvis, that the UK Government have no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands—I know the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, was there recently—and indeed that extends to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands as well. The UK Government are absolutely committed to proactively defending Falkland Islanders’ right to self-determination and that will remain the case. I am confident, irrespective of what Government are in place, that that will be a long-standing commitment to the people of the Falkland Islands from the United Kingdom.

The noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, raised several issues about mining concerns in Peru and Colombia. I listened very carefully to her. We are supporting the development of the first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in Colombia, and that builds on ensuring that communities can grow and thrive. As her Royal Highness and I saw directly, this also extends to the point the noble Lord, Lord Liddle, raised about soft power. I attended a fashion show where the designers were those who had survived the conflict, including from indigenous communities. They were using recyclable material to present a new option and a new sectoral development in Colombia itself.

We were of course focused on our support since the 2016 peace agreement. I also had the opportunity to meet President Santos to get his insights. We remain, as the penholder, very focused on ensuring that the peace agreement is seen through to the end point with the new President. I am acutely aware that challenges remain within the country, and the issue of security in many parts of Colombia remains very much a focus of our attention, as well as of the new Government.

I was going to say a lot about Peru but my noble friend Lord Effingham summed it up holistically; he talked about many elements. We are proud of our relationship with Peru. In October this year, we celebrated its 200th anniversary. I also join in the tribute to my honourable friend in the Foreign Office, the Minister for South America, David Rutley, who attended various events. The UK fully supports the Peruvian Government, the constitutional process and the strengthening of Peruvian democracy, and we will continue to focus on this.

The noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, raised various issues regarding the bilateral trade treaty. If I may, I will write to her about this.

The noble Lord, Lord Liddle, talked about the importance of soft power. I agree with him totally. One of the biggest British Council establishments anywhere in the world is in Colombia. I met with the new head of the British Council in South America about some of key educational programmes for many of the indigenous communities.

As the noble Lord, Lord Mountevans, reminded us, most Latin American countries are functioning democracies that share our commitment to human rights and regularly vote with us in international fora. That is important: the UN matters when we come across key battlegrounds with other countries, as we have on issues of Ukraine, and support from our South American partners has been extremely important.

The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, when talking about trade, asked specifically about the BII. He is correct that it is not making funding available in Latin America, but I asked our trade team quite specifically about the use of UK Export Finance in this regard. It is underleveraged, and we need to look at new opportunities to make funding available. I agree with the noble Lord and others, including the noble Lord, Lord Mountevans, about the opportunities that exist, particularly around the transport system. As a former Transport Minister, I remember the opportunities that exist in rail and metro systems, for example, within South America.

The noble Lord, Lord Griffiths, said he would widen the debate to the Caribbean. I was Minister for the Caribbean once, to paraphrase one of my new colleagues on the Front Benches when he talked about the future. I do not know what the future holds, but I was totally immersed in the Caribbean region and the opportunities those countries present. Many of them are Commonwealth partners. The noble Lord rightly drew our attention to Haiti. He asked for innovative thinking; as the noble Lord, Lord Collins, suggested, I will take that back. We have some great, inspirational leaders in the Caribbean, no less than the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, who is a great champion of accessible finance for small island developing states. On Haiti specifically, the United Kingdom has a direct interest: our territory, Turks and Caicos, is impacted by the challenges in Haiti and we work closely with the US on security concerns. I will come back to the noble Lord on other, more innovative suggestions when it comes to that patch, after discussions with colleagues.

I will turn briefly to trade. The total value of imports and exports to Latin America rocketed by more than 45% last year to more than £40 billion. Yet, as noble Lords have pointed out, the region still represents only 2% of UK imports and 2.5% of UK exports. We are, of course, not the only country that sees the potential; several noble Lords talked about China’s strong and growing economic footprint and how that underpins its influence. It is now the region’s largest trading partner. We have to realise that, which is why the issues of soft power are important, as well as increasing trade.

My noble friend Lord Naseby talked about Chile. He will pleased to know that, as well as the UK-central America association agreement, the Government have signed trade agreements with the Andean region and Chile, and we are making progress on negotiations with Mexico. In July, we finalised accession procedures for joining the CPTPP. This sets the stage for deeper trade investment tie-ins with Morocco, Peru and Chile as founding members. My noble friend Lady Hooper talked about the accession of other countries, including Costa Rica; I know that Ecuador and Uruguay are also interested.

The question of future accessions is of course under discussion, so it would be inappropriate to comment any further. All such CPTPP discussions are taken by consensus, but my noble friend makes a strong case.

Over the next decade, we will aim to eliminate further market access barriers and sign agreements with countries around the region, supporting growing trade and investment in sectors of strategic importance and special interest. The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, raised the issue of Mercosur. Brazil and other Mercosur countries are important trading partners to the UK, and the UK wants to pursue a high-quality FTA in the future in this respect. We are clear, though, that trade should not be at the expense of environmental or climate commitments. Again, the noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, reminded us of the importance of those issues.

My noble friend Lord Effingham raised various issues. I was very much seized of the issue of superfood production in Peru and the wider region. As I said, I have a family interest in this regard. My sister-in-law is a great advocate of such exports and certainly keeps telling me to increase my intake. I believe that Peru exported a record 286 million tonnes of fresh blueberries in 2022-23—the largest such export in the world. UK-based Cocogreen, a cleantech innovator in sustainable agritech products, is now exporting to the region, with deals with world-beating superfood producers in Mexico and Peru worth almost £60 million in the coming years. Again, this debate illustrates the importance of widening the debate, and of our own learnings and education.

The noble Lords, Lord Collins and Lord Brennan, raised the vital issue of lithium, as did my noble friends Lord Effingham and Lord Naseby. We recognise the critical importance of Latin America’s minerals to the global transition to a green economy, and we are working with the so-called lithium triangle countries—Argentina, Chile and Bolivia—which together own almost 60% of the world’s lithium resources. This is vital to the global transition to a green economy, as is lithium battery R&D through the Faraday Institution. However, I should add that in mining cobalt—experience lends itself to this—we should bear in mind the importance of ensuring that vulnerable communities are not impacted. That is an important value that we must sustain. The UK shares many similar values with countries in the region in this respect.

I have been told that I have only 60 seconds left, even though my time has already been curtailed, but I just want to make a few key points on the climate. The noble Viscount, Lord Waverley, raised important issues about the Inter-American Development Bank, which is the largest source of development finance to Latin America and the Caribbean, providing over $18 billion last year. The issue of climate is an important element of our work with South America, and I am delighted that Latin American countries will be big beneficiaries of the UK’s £2 billion contribution, announced in September by my right honourable friend the Prime Minister, to the Green Climate Fund. It is our largest single climate funding commitment. We are lobbying the Inter-American Development Bank to provide greater volumes and quality of climate finance. We have partnerships under the Amazonia Forever initiative and we are keen supporters of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor.

The noble Lords, Lord Collins and Lord Purvis, among others, mentioned Brazil, which is a key partner. It led the UN considerably during its tenure of the Security Council. Personally, I was disappointed that its efforts, particularly on the issue of Gaza, did not bring more returns. However, our partnership is strong, and we value it.

The issue of security also came up. We are working very closely on the 2016 peace agreement in Colombia. I acknowledge what the noble Lord, Lord Collins, raised about the narcotics issues and challenges in South America. Unfortunately, South America is the most violent region in the world outside of conflict situations, with 8.4% of the world’s population but around 30% of global homicides. I will end my comments by saying that we are continuing our focus on this issue with colleagues across the National Crime Agency and the Border Force; it will be a key element of our focus on strengthening our relationships across all four key pillars. We have delivered over £10 million from our global stability and security fund to Latin American countries—for example, to counter illicit finance.

Other questions have been raised. My noble friend raised issues about UK visas; I will write to her specifically on that.

Today’s debate has illustrated the importance of South America to this House and our country as a whole. The UK is leaning on our lengthy and strong partnerships with Latin American countries to boost economic growth, promote close security and climate co-operation. In that regard, I am sure that noble Lords will agree with me that my noble friend has played an important part.

Motion agreed.