14.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the future of the know-how fund. [14121]
My Department will continue to support the countries in transition in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union through the know-how Fund. We shall seek particularly to ensure that the benefits of transition are sustainable and the needs of the poorest are properly protected.
16.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance had been offered to Belarus and the Ukraine from the know-how fund during the last year; and if she will make a statement. [14123]
In 1996–97 the know-how fund provided around £800,000 in technical assistance for Belarus and around £9 million for Ukraine. We are concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus and the growth of poverty in the countries of the former Soviet Union and are adjusting our programmes accordingly.