Asked by: Baroness Curran (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the First Minister of Scotland has received from (a) the British embassy in Washington and (b) consular offices in the US ahead of his upcoming visit to that country.
Answered by David Lidington
The British Embassy in Washington, and the New York Consulate, have provided support for the visit this week of the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, to the US. The Consul General in New York hosted a lunch at his residence on 7 April, in association with Scottish Development International (SDI), for the First Minister and 17 Scottish companies from the First Minister's accompanying trade mission, to which key business figures were invited. The British Embassy in Washington worked with the New York Consulate to organise port courtesies for the First Minister, upon arrival in New York ,to allow the Scottish Affairs Office (based in the British Embassy Washington) to greet the First Minister at the airport and expedite customs and immigration procedures.