Vol. 402 No. 3
25 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will give an assurance that aid to the Third World will be maintained and expanded at EC and bilateral level, in view of the depth of poverty and scale of need in these countries despite the need to respond to new demands from eastern Europe.
The European Community has assured developing countries that events in Eastern Europe will not affect the maintenance of its level of assistance to the Third World. It has, in fact, been able to increase assistance to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries very substantially under Lome IV and increases to other developing countries are under consideration.
In relation to bilateral assistance, our general policy is that provision for Eastern Europe should not be made at the expense of developing countries. However, all Government expenditures have to be decided in the light of overall budgetary requirements.
