Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what representatives of British armed forces and his Department travelled to Colombia during 2013 and 2014.

Routine defence staff talks took place in 2014 and a Royal Navy ship visited Colombia in both 2013 and 2014. The UK has an ongoing programme of counter-narcotics assistance for Colombia. It would not be appropriate to provide details about this programme, as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

In addition, a number of other Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence personnel travelled to Colombia during 2013 and 2014 in order to further the defence relationship. These visits focused on defence education; transformation of the Colombian defence organisation; human rights and humanitarian law and post conflict transition.