Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government is providing to the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia; and what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the work of that mission.

13 of the 208 staff at the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia are British – three are funded by the EU and 10 are funded by the British Government. The EUMM, deployed in the wake of the August 2008 Georgian-Russian war to monitor the implementation of the Peace Agreements of 1 August and 8 September, is an important stabilising factor and trusted independent arbiter in any cross boundary issues. The UK's continued political and practical support to the EUMM is a clear demonstration of UK commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty. As the Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, my right hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Sir Alan Duncan), said in his Explanatory Memorandum to the European Scrutiny Committee of December 2016, we assess that the mission continues to perform valuable work in the field, in challenging circumstances, and it remains the only international mission on the ground monitoring implementation of the 2008 peace agreements.