Southern Africa: Trading Relationships
Debate between Lord Oates and Baroness Sugg
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.
Lord Oates (LD)
My Lords, I too welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box. When did the Government last hold meetings at ministerial level with the current chair of the Southern African Development Community in South Africa, and when did officials of the Department for International Trade last hold discussions with their SADC counterparts on this issue?
Baroness Sugg
I thank the noble Lord for his welcome. As I mentioned before, my noble friend the Minister of State for Trade Policy is in South Africa and Namibia this week. He will meet the SADC secretariat as well as Trade Ministers across the region. In addition to those talks, at the Commonwealth Trade Ministers’ meeting in March he met SADC counterparts, and there continue to be ongoing meetings with officials.