To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 6 October 2008, Official Report, column 228W, on Morocco: Western Sahara, if the Government will take steps to encourage the Government of Morocco to fulfil its obligations under international law to ensure that the indigenous people of the Western Sahara benefit from the extraction of phosphates. (235578)

The Government continue to encourage the Moroccan Government to ensure that, in line with international law, economic activities under administration, including the extraction and exportation of phosphates, do not adversely affect the interests of the people of Western Sahara. The Government will continue to stress this point when and where appropriate.