Overseas Aid (Private Sector Contracts) Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for International Development
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Main Page: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)Department Debates - View all Geoffrey Clifton-Brown's debates with the Department for International Development
Overseas Aid (Private Sector Contracts)
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Excerpts(11 years, 2 months ago)
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Justine Greening
My hon. Friend is very well placed to ask that question, and she is entirely right. I think that we should be proud of the work of companies such as John Lewis and Waitrose, which not only makes business sense for them but makes a huge difference to the thousands of young people whom they are not only employing but “skilling up” in countries such as South Africa. We are delighted to be working with Waitrose. It is projects of that kind that have led me to announce today that I want to do more, and to do it in a more structured way.
Let me also thank my hon. Friend for the incredibly important work that she has been doing in raising awareness of female genital mutilation.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the public sector is often too large in the poorest countries in the world? Is not the best way in which her Department can help to release people from poverty sustainably to create a climate in which the private sector in those countries can flourish? Has that not been proved in countries such as Vietnam?
Justine Greening
My hon. Friend is right. Part of DFID’s work involves helping to create developing-country environments that are, as it were, “investable in”. That means pursuing the Prime Minister’s “golden thread” agenda in relation to the rule of law, the ability to set up contracts and the establishment of the right legal base. Those will all be key ingredients if we are to see business flourish in developing economies.