Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what her planned timetable is for negotiating revised trade agreements with (a) Liechtenstein, (b) Switzerland, (c) Canada, (d) Singapore, (e) Israel, (f) Mexico, (g) Egypt, (h) North Macedonia, (i) Chile, (j) Morocco, (k) Ukraine, (l) Lebanon, (m) Jordan, (n) Tunisia, (o) Serbia, (p) Georgia, (q) Faroe Islands, (r) Moldova, (s) Albania, (t) Kosovo and (u) Palestine to enable companies using the duty-free provisions in the UK’s new generation of freeports to access the tariff reductions available on UK exports to those countries.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
The United Kingdom has already committed to beginning negotiations with Canada and Mexico by the end of 2021. HM Government will continue to keep all agreements under review, as we seek to improve benefits for all British businesses, including those operating in our freeports.
Asked by: Imran Ahmad Khan (Independent - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent steps her Department has taken to help increase the quantity of trade between the UK and Chile.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
Trade between the United Kingdom and Chile was worth £1.4bn in 2020. Last year, my Department successfully negotiated and brought into force the United Kingdom-Chile Association Agreement that maintains preferential trading conditions, providing certainty for businesses.
Chile is also a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and is supportive of the United Kingdom’s planned accession.
In October 2020, I co-chaired the inaugural Anglo-Chilean dialogue where we agreed to work together to boost trade in important sectors such as Financial Services, Life Sciences, and Infrastructure.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the report by the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIPER), published on 9 April 2021 alleging that the Chilean army has monitored journalists covering corruption and human rights abuses, what recent assessment his Department has made of the level of media and press freedom in that country.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Chile's legal and constitutional framework provides for freedom of expression, including for the press. The Chilean media provides a high level of scrutiny of the government and politics, and continues to play an important role in national political life as the country continues its constitutional reform process.
In February, Chile became the 44th member of the Media Freedom Coalition, which the UK helped establish in order to defend and advocate for media freedom, and the safety of journalists where under threat. Members of the Coalition have all signed a written commitment to improving media freedom domestically, and working together internationally.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has raised with (a) his Chilean counterpart and (b) the Chilean Ambassador in the UK the matter of media and press freedom in Chile following findings in the 9 report by the Centre for Investigative Journalism, published on 9 April 2021 alleging that the Chilean army has monitored journalists covering corruption and human rights abuses.
Answered by Wendy Morton
We understand that this issue is under investigation by Chile's judiciary.
On the wider issue of media and press interest in Chile, I refer the Honourable Member to my answer of 27 April to question 187278.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what (1) economic, and (2) political, assessments they have made of Chile following its adoption of a new constitution.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. The Minister will write directly to the Member with a response shortly.Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which of the continuity free trade agreements negotiated by her Department since 2019 contain prohibitions on duty (a) drawback and (b) exemptions.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
There are currently prohibitions to duty drawback and exemptions in agreements with Canada, Chile, Mexico and Singapore. In addition, there are restrictions on duty drawback and exemptions in place with most trading partners that are signatories to the Pan-European-Mediterranean Convention.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 9 March (HL13631), which countries participated in the diplomatic visit to Indian-administered Kashmir organised by the government of India in the week commencing 15 February.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This is a matter for the Government of India. According to information on the Government of India's Ministry of External Affairs website (https://mea.gov.in/response-to-queries.htm?dtl/33544/Official_Spokespersons_response_to_media_queries_on_the_Visit_of_Foreign_Heads_of_Missions_to_Jammu_amp_Kashmir), Heads of Mission attended from Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cote d'Ivore, Cuba, Estonia, Finland, European Union, Eritrea, France, Ghana, Italy, Ireland, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Malawi, Netherlands, Portugal, Senegal, Spain, Sweden and Tajikistan.
Asked by: Lord Tunnicliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what countries the British Armed Forces provided training to on UK territory in (1) 2020, and (2) 2021.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Personnel from the countries listed in the table below have attended defence education or training in the UK in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
Year | Countries |
2019/20 | AFGHANISTAN ALBANIA ALGERIA ANGOLA ANTIGUA & BARBUDA ARGENTINA ARMENIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA AZERBAIJAN BAHAMAS BAHRAIN BANGLADESH BARBADOS BELARUS BELGIUM BELIZE BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA BRAZIL BRUNEI CAMEROON CANADA CHILE CHINA COLOMBIA CROATIA CYPRUS CZECH REPUBLIC DENMARK EGYPT ESTONIA ETHIOPIA FIJI FINLAND FRANCE GAMBIA GEORGIA GERMANY GHANA GREECE GRENADA GUYANA HUNGARY INDIA INDONESIA IRAQ IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JAMAICA JAPAN JORDAN KAZAKHSTAN KENYA KOSOVO KUWAIT KYRGYZSTAN LATVIA LEBANON LESOTHO LITHUANIA LUXEMBOURG MALAWI MALAYSIA MALDIVES MALI MALTA MAURITIUS MEXICO MOLDOVA MONGOLIA MONTENEGRO MOROCCO MOZAMBIQUE NEPAL NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NIGER NIGERIA NORTH MACEDONIA NORWAY OMAN PAKISTAN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES PAPUA NEW GUINEA PARAGUAY PHILIPPINES POLAND PORTUGAL QATAR ROMANIA RWANDA SAUDI ARABIA SENEGAL SERBIA SIERRA LEONE SINGAPORE SLOVENIA SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH KOREA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWEDEN SWITZERLAND THAILAND TONGA TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO TURKEY UGANDA UKRAINE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES URUGUAY USA UZBEKISTAN VIETNAM |
2020/21 | AFGHANISTAN ALBANIA ARMENIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA AZERBAIJAN BAHAMAS BAHRAIN BANGLADESH BELGIUM BELIZE BHUTAN BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA BOTSWANA BRAZIL BRUNEI CAMEROON CANADA CHILE COLOMBIA CYPRUS CZECH REPUBLIC DENMARK EGYPT ESTONIA ETHIOPIA FIJI FINLAND FRANCE GEORGIA GERMANY GHANA GREECE HUNGARY INDIA INDONESIA IRAQ IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JAMAICA JAPAN JORDAN KENYA KOSOVO KUWAIT LEBANON LITHUANIA MALAWI MALAYSIA MALDIVES MALI MALTA MOLDOVA MONGOLIA MONTENEGRO MOROCCO NEPAL NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND NIGER NIGERIA NORTH MACEDONIA NORWAY OMAN PAKISTAN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES PARAGUAY POLAND PORTUGAL QATAR ROMANIA SAUDI ARABIA SIERRA LEONE SINGAPORE SLOVAKIA SOUTH KOREA SPAIN SRI LANKA SWITZERLAND THAILAND TONGA TUNISIA UGANDA UKRAINE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES URUGUAY USA |
Note: MOD records information on International Defence Training (IDT) by financial year, rather than by calendar year. Information is taken from a central IDT database. Some activity may not be captured on that database.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel on 22 February (HL13173) and 9 March (HL13586), to list in the body of their answer which specific countries they have secured continuity trade agreements with since the UK’s departure from the EU.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
In addition to our deal with the EU, we have secured trade agreements with 66 non-EU countries, covering £890 billion of trade in total (2019 data). These are:
Albania;
Antigua and Barbuda;
Barbados;
The Bahamas;
Belize;
Botswana;
Cameroon;
Canada;
Colombia;
Côte d’Ivoire (The Ivory Coast);
Costa Rica;
Chile;
Dominica;
The Dominican Republic;
Ecuador;
Egypt;
El Salvador;
Eswatini (Swaziland);
The Faroe Islands;
Fiji;
Ghana;
Grenada;
Guyana;
Guatemala;
Georgia;
Honduras;
Iceland;
Israel;
Japan;
Jordan;
Jamaica;
Kenya;
Kosovo;
Lebanon;
Lesotho;
Liechtenstein;
Mexico;
Morocco;
Moldova;
Mozambique;
Mauritius;
Nicaragua;
Norway;
North Macedonia;
Namibia;
Peru;
Panama;
Papua New Guinea;
The Palestinian Authority;
Saint Lucia;
St. Vincent and the Grenadines;
Samoa;
The Solomon Islands;
St. Kitts and Nevis;
The Seychelles;
South Africa;
Switzerland;
Singapore;
South Korea;
Suriname;
Trinidad and Tobago;
Tunisia;
Turkey;
Ukraine;
Vietnam; and
Zimbabwe.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff his Department employed in British Embassies and Consulates in South America in financial year (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20.
Answered by Nigel Adams
We have interpreted the question to mean how many staff were employed by the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office in South America in each of the financial years, (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20. All the figures shown are based on the headcount as at 31 March in each year.
The figures below cover our Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions in Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. These figures do not include staff from the then Department for International Development (DFID).