asked the Minister of Overseas Development in what way Her Majesty's Government are proposing to support UNICEF's projects in Bangladesh.

UNICEF has undertaken an extension programme for the development of hand-operated tubewells in Bangladesh, which was designed to prepare the way for a much larger programme, directed particularly at the rural poor, involving the installation of 300,000 shallow tubewells in rural areas. Her Majesty's Government have pledged a contribution of £200,000 to help finance equipment needed for the project.Parliamentary approval to this new service will be sought in the summer Sup-

					Textile cordage, cable, rope and twine		Metal cordage, cable and rope
					Thousand metric tons	£million cif	Thousand metric tons	£ million cif
1974	…	…	…	…	11·5	7·2	12·9	9·2
1975	…	…	…	…	8·6	5·3	14·2	13·0
1976	…	…	…	…	13·4	6·0	12·7	12·4
January to April 1977				…	7·8	3·5	5·1	5·8

These figures are published in the 1974 Annual Statement of Overseas Trade and appropriate issues of the Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom.Copies of all these publications are available in the House of Commons Library.