Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart from South Sudan on that country's membership of the Commonwealth; and if he will make a statement.

The Foreign Minister of South Sudan last raised their Commonwealth application with my hon friend the member for Boston and Skegness (Mark Simmonds MP), the former Minister for Africa, in June 2014. South Sudan’s application to join the Commonwealth is being assessed by the Commonwealth Secretariat.