asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will create a technical co-operation fund to transfer United Kingdom expertise, experience and best practice to Papua New Guinea to address the HIV/AIDS crisis. [HL1376]

DfID has no programme in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and no plans to establish a technical co-operation fund to transfer UK expertise, experience and best practice to address the HIV/AIDS crisis in PNG. The largest donor to the HIV/AIDS sector in PNG is the Australian development agency, AUSAID. DfID is working closely with AUSAID on major programmes to address HIV/AIDS in a number of other countries in south-east Asia. These include the Three Diseases Fund in Burma, in which poverty and conflict issues have similarities to those found in PNG. Through this joint working, DfID is seeking to transfer some of the UK's expertise in tackling HIV/AIDS in extremely poor countries to AUSAID to apply to its programmes in the region.