Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with counterparts in Ghana, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire on the proposed cost of living tariff suspensions on fresh bananas and their potential impact on those countries' exports to the UK.

On 27th May, HM Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) launched a four-week stakeholder consultation on a proposal to suspend tariffs on a package of agri-food products, including bananas. As part of that Call for Input, officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) engaged with a range of overseas governments, local businesses and trade associations about the impact of the proposals on producers in developing countries. The FCDO will work with HM Treasury and DBT to ensure that the evidence provided by those stakeholders is carefully considered before any final decisions are taken.