Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with its counterpart in Honduras on supporting that country to recover from the effects of (a) the covid-19 pandemic and (b) recent hurricanes.

On 17 May, the Minister of State for the Pacific and Environment, the Rt Hon Lord Zac Goldsmith, met with Honduran Secretary of State, Carlos Madero. They discussed Honduras' reconstruction plan, environmental issues, and vaccines. The UK provided immediate humanitarian support to Honduras in response to the devastation caused by storms Eta and Iota, which struck Central America in November 2020. The UK also contributed £1m to the International Red Cross for their post-hurricane relief efforts, and an additional £224k worth of relief items were delivered by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Argus. Honduras has so far received 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX mechanism. The UK is fully committed to COVAX as the best way to ensure global equitable access for priority vulnerable populations, and that is why we have donated more than £548 million to the process. The British Embassy in Guatemala City (non-Resident for Honduras) has regularly engaged with the Honduran government and the private sector about the impact of the pandemic, and storms Eta and Iota, including facilitating donations from GSK (1,000 inhalator chambers, and 1,844 boxes of Panadol) to the Honduran Government, and supporting communication between AstraZeneca and the Honduran Minister of Health.