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Proliferation in ParliamentBack to Proliferation in Parliament, Summer 2009 Westminster ParliamentSouth AsiaOral Questions and Debates
Written Questions
South AsiaOral Questions and DebatesForeign & Commonwealth Office Topical Questions, 30 Jun 2009 : Column 159Mr. David Heathcoat-Amory (Wells) (Con): Will the Department pay particular attention to the dangers of nuclear proliferation, and does it think it strange that this country continues to give a lot of foreign aid to countries that are building nuclear weapons? In particular, is the Department aware that the biggest single recipient of British aid is a country with a nuclear weapons programme, a space programme, a development programme of its own and more billionaires than we have, who own substantial chunks of British industry? I am referring to India. David Miliband: I thought that the right hon. Gentleman was going
to cite our support for Pakistan; if he was in fear of radicalisation,
I would have one answer. In respect of India, he will know that British
aid now amounts to about £240 million over this spending review period,
but it is on a declining trend, and by 2011 will have stopped, not because
of the Indian nuclear programme but because India is becoming a richer
country. It is clear from international development legislation since
1997 that development aid should be directed according to poverty, and
that is the basis on which India is pulling itself away from aid, according
to its own wealth-generating potential. Written QuestionsNuclear Weapons, Written Questions, 20 July 2009 : Column 958WMr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he received reports on the export of nuclear weapons technology, blueprints and fissionable material by the Kahuta Nuclear Research Institute in Pakistan to (a) Iran, (b) Libya, (c) North Korea and (d) Saudi Arabia; and what steps he has taken in response to those reports. Mr. Ivan Lewis: In 2003 reports suggested that AQ Khan, who headed
the Kahuta Nuclear Research Institute, supplied technology that could
be used to make nuclear weapons to some of the countries mentioned. There
is no evidence that Khan provided technology to Saudi Arabia. The UK played
a leading role in Libya's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction
in December 2003 and we support all the UN Security Council Resolutions
in place with regards to Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea. Pakistan: Nuclear Weapons, Written Questions, 3 Jun 2009 : Column 515WMr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on (a) recent activity in Pakistan's nuclear programme and (b) construction of facilities at (i) the 3 Jun 2009 : Column 516W Dera Ghazi Khan Nuclear Site and (ii) the Institute of Science and Technology; and what recent discussions he has had with his Pakistani counterpart on Pakistan’s nuclear programme. David Miliband: Recent reports on Pakistan’s nuclear programme
indicate that Pakistan is continuing to expand its nuclear weapons capabilities
both in terms of warheads and their delivery systems. Dera Ghazi Khan
nuclear site and the Institute of Science and Technology are both involved
in Pakistan’s nuclear programme. I regularly discuss this and a range
of other issues with my Pakistani counterpart, most recently on 26 May
2009. Back to Proliferation in Parliament, Summer 2009 © 2009 The Acronym Institute. |