Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her Department has had with the European Commission on continued participation in the EU Trust Fund for Africa after the UK leaves the EU.

The Department for International Development discusses the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa with the European Commission on a regular basis. The UK and the EU have agreed that the UK should continue to participate in the Trust Fund until its conclusion in 2020. That agreement is explicitly reflected in the Draft Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (Article 148).

The Trust Fund’s Constitutive Agreement makes clear that non-EU donors can participate fully in the governance of the Trust Fund, with voting rights in its Board and Committees. The Government intends to continue to play a full role in the Trust Fund until its conclusion.