To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have considered granting financial help towards the newly established solidarity and social investment fund in Chile, along with other European Governments.

We have a bilateral technical cooperation programme for Chile which we have recently decided to increase. We have given careful consideration to the Chilean Government's request for further bilateral assistance, but have had to conclude that we cannot help.We also assist Chile through multilateral channels such as the World Bank and European Community action; in 1988 expenditure on Chile by the EC amounted to just under £1 million, of which the United Kingdom share is about 20 per cent.