PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION - 28TH JUNE 2005

"Why is Her Majesty's Government planning to close its Embassy in Madagascar?"

I thank the Minister for that reply and declare an interest.

As Chairman of the English Speaking Union I opened an ESU in Madagascar in April 2003.

Can the Minister explain why this decision to close our Embassy and outsource it to Mauritius, a 1000 miles away, is being taken just as English is becoming the preferred second language of the young people in Madagascar, taught in all primary schools?

Why is this closure occurring at the precise moment when decisions on very significant investments in the Island are about to be taken, when other European countries are opening Embassies in Madagascar, and when the US Millennium Fund has just awarded $110 million to Madagascar in recognition of its progress in "governing justly, investing in its people and promoting economic freedom"?

In short - and my question could be longer - is this the moment for penny pinching by a Government which at the same time, and in the same breath, proclaims Africa to be top of the world's agenda?