Lord Bruce of Bennachie
Main Page: Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)British Embassy in Damascus
Lord Bruce of Bennachie Excerpts(1 day, 8 hours ago)
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Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
As the noble Baroness said, we have an incredibly strong team in Lebanon, and it is important that that continues. The points she makes about the need for a regional approach, the instability we want to avoid and the importance of our presence across the region are well made; I take those and agree with her.
Lord Bruce of Bennachie (LD)
My Lords, can the Minister explain how UK spending in Syria is helping to build stability and tackle humanitarian crises? What steps are required to reopen the embassy, given that Syria has reopened its embassy in London? Can she also explain how the Government can maintain support for Syria, Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan, and still maintain significant engagement with sub-Saharan Africa?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
There was a lot in that question. On the humanitarian question, we do not work directly on humanitarian issues through the Government in Syria, for reasons I think noble Lords will understand, but through NGOs and the United Nations. At the moment, that is the right approach to take. We look forward to a time when we can have a more normalised presence in Damascus and all the things you would normally associate with the government-to-government and diplomatic relations we seek.
On how we can spend the same in Syria while protecting Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza—and of course the Overseas Territories—the truth is that we cannot. But in a modern development partnership, the test of your effectiveness and impact is not the pound sign next to your ODA budget; it is the quality of your relationships, your diplomatic presence, your defence and security relationships, and your political links. All these things matter hugely. The volume of spend we are able to mobilise through the multilateral system, not least the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, far exceeds anything we could ever have put forward as a bilateral ODA programme.