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Back to Proliferation in Parliament, Summer 2009
Mr. 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.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/
cm090630/debtext/90630-0003.htm#09063049000028
Mr. 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.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/
cm090720/text/90720w0056.htm#09072117000099
Mr. 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
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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.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/
cm090603/text/90603w0008.htm#09060368000019
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