Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2017 to Question 8328, what factors his Department took into account when deciding which countries to invite to the Defence and Security Equipment International Exhibition that was held in London in September 2017.

The Department for International Trade and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office undertake a stringent process of scrutiny and approval before any invitations to foreign governments are issued, for major UK defence exhibitions like DSEI.

Respect for human rights is a mandatory consideration in the process and a country would not be invited where that would contradict the UK’s international obligations. Invitations are reviewed if the situation in any one country changes significantly prior to an exhibition.