---

Democratic Republic of Congo (Development)

I support the fund that has been set up, which is very welcome. Will the Minister also say something about what is being done to prevent the sale of illegally logged tropical hardwoods, many of which emanate from the Congo basin and which find their way into the furniture factories and on to the building sites of western Europe, north America and China? This is not easy, but unless we choke off the sales of that illegally logged timber, the deforestation will continue apace.