Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what role the Developing Countries Trading Scheme plays in the Department’s strategy for strengthening UK trading relationships in sub-Saharan Africa.

We are committed to our trading relationships across the continent of Africa, founded on partnerships and respect, to deliver mutual long-term benefit. Recent UK-Africa consultations demonstrated that African partners want increased trade with countries like the UK, and within the continent. Trade has the potential to drive growth. The UK provides duty-free, or virtually duty-free, market access for goods from 48 countries in Africa through our Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) and network of Economic Partnership Agreements. The UK also continues to support African partners to boost intra-African trade and prosperity through the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.