The Marquess of Lothian – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-12-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what practical assistance they are providing to Burma to help that country in its democratic transition following the elections on 8 November.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Our package of development assistance to Burma this year is £82 million and we have allocated £25 million between 2014 and 2019 specifically to strengthen democratic governance in Burma. This sum included support to elections through the provision of technical advice to the Burmese election commission, voter education and building capacity in monitoring and observation of the electoral process.

Following the November elections, we will continue to engage with Burma to encourage the country along its journey of democratic reform. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 10 November to offer continued political and economic support for the people of Burma. We will of course keep in close contact on a range of topics and look forward to working with the new administration, which takes office in March 2016.