Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to form long-lasting partnerships with (1) Latin American, (2) Asian, and (3) African, countries.

The UK is committed to working with partners in Latin America, Asia and Africa, including to foster long-term stability and trade, address drivers of conflict, call out human rights abuses and violations, promote democracy and tackle climate change. In his foreign policy speech on 12 December, the Foreign Secretary reaffirmed the UK's commitment to working with developing countries in continents around the world, and to making a sustained effort to revive old friendships and build new ones, reaching beyond long-established alliances. In the last year, the UK has offered guarantees to allow almost £5 billion of extra multilateral finance for the developing world, as well as a reliable source of infrastructure investment through the British Investment Partnerships, through UK Export Finance, and through the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure. We are negotiating and signing free trade deals and Mutual Recognition Agreements, and demonstrating our long-term commitment to the Indo Pacific, including by joining the Trans-Pacific free trade agreement as soon as possible.