Tuesday, 13 December 2005

Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East, Lab) Hansard source

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with representatives of (a)European Union governments, (b) South Africa and (c) Somaliland on recognition for Somaliland.

Ian Pearson (Minister of State (Trade), Foreign & Commonwealth Office)

We have had frequent discussions with representatives of Somaliland on the question of recognition, most recently when my noble Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister for Africa , Lord Triesman of Tottenham, met the Foreign Minister of Somaliland on 20 May. We have not had substantive discussions of this matter with European Union partners, South Africa or any other government.

The international community does not recognize Somaliland as an independent state. We have urged the Somaliland authorities to agree a mutually acceptable solution on their future status with any eventual government in Somalia . We believe that African countries should take a lead in any eventual recognition process.

International Development

HIV/AIDS

Monday, 12 December 2005

Sian James ( Swansea East, Lab)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions his Department has had with the Government of (a) Lesotho, (b) Swaziland and (c) Somalia on HIV/AIDS infection, prevention and treatment.

Hilary Benn (Secretary of State, Department for International Development)

DFID officials have met on many occasions with Government officials and civil society organizations to discuss the HIV epidemic in both Swaziland and Lesotho .

In both countries, DFID is providing support for both prevention and care activities through a programme managed by the Southern Africa Development Community. The project is providing £7.5 million for the sub-region, of which £2 million is being spent in Lesotho and Swaziland respectively. The work focuses upon treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), behavior change and the promotion of condom use. DFID has also financed key posts within the Department of Health. In Swaziland , DFID support targets the provision of Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) and in Lesotho it is directed towards monitoring and evaluation through the AIDS secretariat in the Ministry of Health.

In Lesotho , DFID is providing additional support (£1.7 million 2005–08) to develop the National AIDS Commission so that the country can develop a more coordinated response. This support is combined with assistance to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), to strengthen civil society and with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to help the Government build work on HIV/AIDS into its economic and development planning.

Outside of these project activities, we have most frequently discussed issues of HIV and AIDS with officials in the National AIDS Councils of the respective countries. Because the epidemic continues to infect many people, our discussions concentrate on both prevention and care.

In Somalia , resources from the Global Fund were committed in June 2005. DFID is providing £00,000 to the UNDP to bridge the gap until Global Fund resources come online. DFID support to the UNDP will help to build capacity to the National AIDS Commissions in Somaliland and Puntland, and should benefit the entire population. The funding will also comprise support to Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) and Anti-retroviral (ARV) programmes, which are likely to reach 1,000 people.

We are also contributing funding to UNAIDS for a 'five country strategy' which runs from 2004–06. The aim of the programme is to improve co-ordination on HIV and AIDS across all five countries. Approximately £950,000 will go to Somalia which equates to 26 per cent. of the total funding package for this programme.

Westminster Hall debates

Thursday, 24 March 2005

The UK and Africa

Motion made, and Question proposed, That the sitting be now adjourned.—[Mr. Jim Murphy.]

Tony Colman (Putney, Lab)

I think that we are; it was not meant to be that way, as I was trying to pay tribute, as I should hope hon. Members of all parties would, to an hon. Member who has had severe problems with illness in the past eight years and who will be retiring from the House. I see hon. Members nodding, as they share my concern that he must leave before his wide experience has been used.

I shall now talk about Africa and the United Kingdom . It has been a great privilege to serve on the International Development Committee in this Parliament, and I particularly thank the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), who has chaired the Committee so well for four years. We have done tremendous work to keep the Department for International Development and other Departments that have involvement with Africa with their feet held to the fire, if I may phrase it in that way.

My personal peak in the extraordinary experience of learning about Africa was landing at Hargeisa airport in Somaliland in February 2004 and being welcomed almost as conquering heroes. It was even more amazing to walk down Hargeisa high street and meet some of my constituents, who greeted me and pointed out how well they thought I was doing as an MP. However, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you may feel that I am electioneering in saying that, too.

What was remarkable was the $400 million that had gone into Somaliland since 1992 through the hawala remittance system. I am pleased to see—I received the information today—that the Department for International Development is launching its UK remittance products survey next Thursday, to follow up the work that it has done on that important way in which Africa helps itself, through migrants who have left. Like other hon. Members I worked in Africa in the 1960s, and, as the Minister has said, Africa has gone backwards, not forwards.

Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North, Lab)

Before my hon. Friend leaves the subject of Somalia , may I ask whether he has an opinion on recognition or otherwise of the Government in Hargeisa? What does he think are the chances of reunification of Somalia ?

Tony Colman (Putney, Lab)

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. My hon. Friend the Member for Clydebank and Milngavie (Tony Worthington) led a debate here, which was apparently the most viewed debate ever in parliamentary history, on the future of Somaliland . I hope—I have made this clear many times—that the good governance that is represented in Somaliland will be taken into account, in whatever way the overall Somalia Government proceed. I hope that the Minister for Africa , who is in his place, will ensure that that view, which was expressed by hon. Members of all parties on the International Development Committee, is supported.

My reason for participating in the debate was to provide a new element to it. Others have spoken about the Make Poverty History campaign and the issues of governance, increased aid, debt relief and trade justice. I should like to support those concepts and I noticed the words used by the Prime Minister, at the Dispatch Box at lunchtime, when he said that 2005 should be Africa 's year.

My concern is what I believe to be the missing chapter in the Commission for Africa document, about the role of the private sector, which is to deliver. It is in paragraphs 129 to 142—"What business should do". That is three pages out of 461. It largely ignores the role of venture capital and private equity in delivering for Africa .

My guru on this issue is Alan Patricof, who is a co-founder of Apax Partners. He was vice-chairman of the commission on capital flows to Africa and a member of the United Nations Development Programme commission on the private sector and development. In a recent Financial Times article, he said that there needs to be

"a pool of semi-permanent capital for investment in African businesses that does not have to be serviced or amortized regularly from the start."

The problem is, according to Alan Patricof:

"Equity capital for growing small businesses is not available today in Africa ; only loans are."

We need new instruments.

May I introduce the House to the work of the African Venture Capital Association? It consists of 35 venture capital funds that work in Africa , one of which is CDC/Actis. The AVCA managing director is Barbara James, working from London ; the chair is Mark Jennings, from South Africa ; the vice-chair is Aziz Mebarek from Tunisia ; and Rotimi Oyekanmi from Nigeria is AVCA director. That group seeks to ensure that there is a way forward in dealing with the need for the money to be there. The views that I am expressing are my own, not from that association, but it is important to take it into account. It intends to make a major submission to the Commission for Africa before the 31 May deadline.

The association points out in particular that only $750 million of the $25 billion a year that is recommended by the commission is clearly earmarked for the private sector. For the investment climate facility, the sum is $550 million over seven years and for the Africa enterprise fund it is $100 million. For political risk insurance provided by MIGA the figure is $80 million, and for the UNDP growing sustainable business initiative it is only $20 million over five years. I say "only"; these are new funds, but the needs are great. I strongly believe that, as we saw as a Committee in India and China , if we want to deliver on the millennium development goals, business must be a key partner. The goals cannot be delivered on simply through Government.

I was very concerned that one particular recommendation was not covered. Perhaps that is because it relates primarily to a UK matter. I am talking about the concept of tax incentives for investors—particularly African diaspora investors—in African businesses and in private equity in particular. Such incentives would be similar to tax incentives given to UK taxpayers who invest in UK venture capital trusts and community development finance institutions, and similar to tax incentives given to individuals who give charitable donations to African causes. I have spoken to my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and it is a shame that that recommendation was left out of the overall view of how we go forward.

The key is what happens between now and the Gleneagles summit. Last week, I spoke to the excellent director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and he was concerned that the private sector should be able to be brought into the discussion in early June. He is putting a proposal to the Foreign Office and to DFID for a conference to be held in early June, at which we could get entrepreneurs and business people from Africa to take the report to pieces and expand the three pages into something more substantial that can go to the Gleneagles summit in early June.

May I add my other four points? Obviously, the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Mr. Chidgey) made his. Mine are more about things that I would have liked to see in the Commission for Africa report, but which were not there. First, I am surprised that there is no supermarket code of practice for the supply of farm products from Africa to UK supermarkets. A lot of effort goes in to ensure that UK farmers are subsidized—all the way up to the hilt, as we know. I read today that Oliver Walston is receiving almost £200,000. That is quite legal, but the subsidies are enormous. Nothing is being subsidized in Africa . It would be rather nice to have a commitment that 50 per cent. of the raw foodstuffs sold in UK supermarkets should come from Africa by 2015, and perhaps the goal for processed food could be 2025. Such a commitment from the UK retail supermarket industry could be achieved, if the NGOs decide to take this on alongside the Government, and would revolutionize agriculture, feeding both Africa and Europe .

Secondly, the extractive industries transparency initiative has been mentioned again and again. Why not encourage resource extraction out of Africa to a level significantly higher than at present, but ensure that the royalties from that larger amount are earmarked for achieving the millennium development goals? We could track the new money.

Thirdly, if we are building our schools, hospitals and infrastructure in the UK through public-private partnership and they will be fit for purpose for the next 30 years, why cannot that be done for African countries if they wish it? It could be guaranteed by World Bank loans and the Export Credits Guarantee Department, with local companies doing the construction and local people running the schools and hospitals that are built.

Lastly, this is United Nations year of microcredit. I pay tribute to the all-party group on this and to Phyllis SantaMaria of PlaNet Finance plc, who has acted as our key adviser. Commercial banking systems need to be available in all African countries, operating, of course, under local regulatory controls. However, as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury said at a meeting that the Minister and I attended last night, we need to ensure that Governments get off the back of private companies wherever possible to enable entrepreneurialism to take place.

My experience of the African economy at market level is that it can take off. I close my remarks by returning to Alan Patricof. He says:

"With help from rich countries in building up the support systems for small and medium-sized enterprises . . . these enterprises could grow rapidly and provide the employment . . . the efficient products and services and the tax revenues to support sustainable, non-aid dependent economies in Africa ."

I believe that we need to have more aid. We need to have trade justice and we need to have debt relief. Alongside that, we need to unleash the entrepreneurialism that is available in Africa and could deliver the employment and the future for it to achieve the millennium development goals.