Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her counterparts in (a) Qatar, (b) Uzbekistan, (c) Tajikistan and (d) the UAE on improving safe routes of passage from Afghanistan for refugees.

We see regional countries as vital to the overall response, including Pakistan and Iran who host 2.2 million registered Afghan refugees. The Foreign Secretary discussed the situation when she visited India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Indonesia over the autumn and Lord (Tariq) Ahmad, the Minister of State for South Asia, travelled to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in support of the resettlement process. Lord Ahmad also called on his counterparts in the region to discuss the humanitarian situation and the resettlement process.