Written question asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 12 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 November 2003. It was answered by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Thursday, 20 November 2003 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, if she will list for each of the last 20 years the (a) contracts with, (b) materials involved in and (c) value of trade deals with Iraq agreed with the support of the Export Credit Guarantee Department for which payment from Iraq has not been received. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, if she will list for each of the last 20 years the (a) contracts with, (b) materials involved in and (c) value of trade deals with Iraq agreed with the support of the Export Credit Guarantee Department for which payment from Iraq has not been received. [138914] Mr. Mike O'Brien: ECGD has unrecovered claims of around £623 million arising from contracts with Iraq signed prior to the first Gulf conflict in 1991. This amount does not include interest, which, it is estimated, could bring the figure to around £1 billion. These claims stem from more than five hundred cases supporting the export of goods ranging from consumer items to heavy industrial equipment. The details of these contracts could only be collated at disproportionate cost. ECGD has not been on cover for business in Iraq since 1991.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 138914; 413 c1429W;413 c1425W
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Contracts Exports Iraq Export credit guarantees Trade Trade agreements
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk