No plans for trade envoy to TRNC — UK

THE UK has “no plans” to appoint a trade envoy to the TRNC, a British minister has said. The admission was made by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel in response to probing from pro-Turkish Cypriot Conservative peer Lord Balfe.

Lord Balfe had submitted a series of written questions in the House of Lords to ministers at the UK’s Department of International Trade (DIT) in a bid to expose inconsistencies in the way Britain treats the TRNC compared to Taiwan, neither of which it recognises as independent states.

Lord Balfe had demanded to know why the British government has appointed a trade envoy for Taiwan but not for North Cyprus.

He had also asked questions about the criteria used to “determine which countries have a trade envoy appointed to them” and “what consideration is given to the political affiliation of trade envoys before they are appointed”.

Lord Grimstone, a minister at the DIT, had originally failed to answer the part of the questions regarding the TRNC, but in a new answer he said: “We are constantly reviewing suitable markets to identify where the appointment of a trade envoy can be of greatest benefit to the trade and investment aims of the UK, with the Prime Minister making the final decision. There are no plans to appoint a trade envoy to Northern Cyprus.”

In November another British minister, Baroness Sugg, said that the TRNC and Taiwan are “two very different political realities” and that the UK government’s position is “informed by the particular context of each situation”.