To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to his US counterpart on the US Administration’s support for the Arms Trade treaty process; and if he will make a statement. (254030)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 November 2008, Official Report, column 1194W.

Although the US voted against the resolution at the UN General Assembly vote in December 2008, the US delegation took part in the UN meeting in New York on 23 January 2009 preparing for the Opening Ended Working Group, which starts in March 2009. This is an encouraging sign, and shows that the US remains engaged in discussions on this issue.

We will be raising the Arms Trade treaty, alongside a wide range of other subjects with the new US Administration over the next few weeks, as both senior appointees and officials take up their new positions.