Written question asked by John Bercow (Conservative) on Monday, 24 June 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 1 July 2002. It was answered by Clare Short (Labour) on Monday, 1 July 2002 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Dept for International Development

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the United Nations Development Programme about the progress of its work on democratic governance.

Answer: Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the United Nations Development Programme about the progress of its work on democratic governance. [64695] Clare Short: Democratic Governance is one of UNDP's six priority action areas, and an area that DFID also prioritises in its work. I last had discussions with UNDP's administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, on this and other issues at the UN's Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) in Monterrey in March 2002. My officials work closely with UNDP colleagues on democratic governance programmes in a number of partner countries. There is also regular contact between headquarters staff. For example, last month DFID's Chief Governance Adviser and other governance advisers met with the resident experts working at UNDP's newly established Thematic Facility on Governance, based in Oslo, Norway. I have also accepted an invitation from UNDP to speak at the launch in July of their 2002 Human Development Report which has as its main theme the examination of the challenges of democratic governance and development.

Secondary information