Trade Agreements
(asked on 10th October 2022) - View Source
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the answer of 8 September 2020 to Question 81659 on Trade Agreements, how much public money was spent by her Department in each of the financial years from 2017-18 to 2021-22 on expenditure related to the proposed establishment of a dedicated Trade Negotiation Facility to support future trade negotiations.
The Government switched to remote technology to conduct trade negotiations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our success in doing so means countries now operate international dialogues on a hybrid basis with a blend of remote and face-to-face discussions. This contrasts with the pre-pandemic international norm of always conducting trade negotiations in person.
This change, spearheaded by the UK, has negated the requirement for a dedicated Trade Negotiation Facility.
The spend by financial year on developing a potential dedicated venue is as follows:
Year | Spend |
2017/18 | £0 |
2018/19 | £0 |
2019/20 | £760,000 |
2020/21 | £249,000 |
2021/22 | £0 |