Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness, (b) potential and (c) adequacy of relations between the UK and North Africa.

The relationship between the UK and the countries of North Africa focuses on a range of shared interests, including trade and investment, working together on migration, regional stability, and people-to-people links. There is greater potential, including to increase trade from £11bn, and to meet demand for greater English language capacity. We are working to develop comprehensive partnerships to tackle irregular migration and have regular dialogues on regional stability, such as the importance of tackling Russian efforts to increase its presence in the region and aligning efforts to address the conflicts of the Sahel and wider Middle East.