Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason the Government decided to host a Myanmar Trade and Investment Conference in London; and what account was taken of human rights violations by the Government of Myanmar before the decision was made to host that conference.

​Burma is emerging from decades of military rule and starting on the road to democracy. If the economy collapses, if people have no jobs, or cannot afford to feed themselves then this will damage the democratisation process and set back human rights. The conference enables us to work with UK businesses, investing responsibly, to play a role in the wider economic growth agenda in Burma. The British Government is clear that the Burmese military is responsible for a range of human rights violations in Rakhine and other ethnic states. We have led international calls for accountability to ensure that grave human rights violations do not go unpunished. A full EU arms embargo, which the UK has supported, remains in place against the Burmese military. Her Majesty's Government will seek to ensure that our work does not support military owned or backed businesses, and in the longer term, aim to level the playing field to promote inclusive growth.