Speeches by Cooper.

“We do not normally do formal responses, as in documents or policy documents that set out a response to an advisory opinion report. Successive Ministers have said to you, “Look, we are still considering this. We will respond.” I think that because we have said that, we need to be clearer with you about the nature of our…”

“I think it is wrong to say there would be a policy document in response, because no nation has done that and we would not normally do that. But in terms of our articulating something to you—whether that be orally, in a written ministerial statement or in writing—I think you have been promised that through an extensive …”

“There were two things under consideration in December. First, at that point, we were still seeking to support what we hoped, in the autumn, was a process that would make progress towards a two-state solution. We had the 20-point Gaza peace plan, and those 20 points explicitly linked into the Palestinian Authority ultim…”

“I recognise that; I am just explaining that in the autumn we were seeking to try to leverage a diplomatic process that, at least in Gaza, did seem to be delivering some pressure and some progress. We also raised a series of concerns through the Christmas recess and into the new year about what was happening in terms of…”

“The good thing about Alistair is that you know that he will always tell us, he will always be honest about what he thinks, and he will do so in such a diplomatic way that you always think, “Well, fair point.””

“There is a lot of distress about this case, and there is evidence in the case that there has been a lot of focus on. But there are other cases, including of doctors and healthcare workers, being detained, without transparency and with real concerns about human rights abuses and real concerns about the implications. We …”

“I think there are two issues there: the settlement trade and the wider international humanitarian law breaches. On the settlement trade, I agree that we do need to do more. We have been looking at a range of different options as to how we go forward. The new Prime Minister will need to take a final view on those. I agr…”

“We have had some of those discussions and I am sure that those discussions will continue.”

“We just had the NATO summit, last week, and as part of that I had very many discussions with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a whole range of different issues, which were very positive discussions. The big focus has been on how we increase Europe’s role within NATO and I think that is exactly what we have delivered, …”

“This first became a focus back in late January, early February this year. The view we strongly took, which was shared by all our European partners as well, was that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the sovereignty lies with Greenland and the people of Denmark and of Greenland, and it is for them to decide a…”

“Some of the issues are shared right across the area, including the British overseas territories and countries with which we have strong historic relationships, including members of the Commonwealth and so on. Of course, there is an interrelation, which can be around refugees, the wider economic and trade relations and,…”

“I also think we need to have stronger action going forward. We should be clear about the things we have done. We recognised the state of Palestine, which was a historic decision, and suspended the previous Government’s negotiations on a trade deal. We have suspended all arms exports to the IDF that could be used in Gaz…”

“On the trade issue, there is how we use sanctions in a targeted way for those who do contracts, and alongside that, there is what more we can do on settlement trade. Compared with Crimea, there is additional complexity for the settlements. With Crimea, we had a sanctions regime for Russia and Belarus, and if they had k…”

“Indeed. There are ways to do this through, again, the dedicated sanctions regimes, and we have also been looking at whether there are things you can do through the goods licensing process as well. In terms of where other countries have got to, because that is worth reflecting on, most other countries have focused on go…”

“Our position remains that we want to see the strait of Hormuz fully reopened. This is about an international shipping lane and the law of the sea. Therefore, no country can do what Iran has been seeking to do. They have been deliberately trying to weaponise the strait to hijack the global economy, effectively. There ar…”

“Thank you very much, Chair, and to the Committee for having me. Let me give a sense of the overview and where all these things fit in. What I was trying to set out in the essay was very much the backdrop. The priorities we set out were the things the FCDO is focusing on. Part of what I was trying to do with the Chatham…”

“We continue to oppose tolls and charges. In fact, that was the discussion that I had with American colleagues last week while we were at NATO. We were talking about how we could not end up with tolls and a system on the strait of Hormuz that would undermine the freedom of navigation and the law of the sea. At the momen…”

“It is true that we are not heavily involved in that area of the world, or in exactly what is happening in Cuba, but we supported the proposal to hold an emergency UN debate on Cuba, because we think it is important. We have raised concerns, and we obviously have support through our embassy there. It is true to say that…”

“No, I agree.”

“I will pass over to Nick in a moment to follow up on some of the restructuring issues in the Foreign Office. In some ways, the focus on how conflict prevention fits into diplomacy and our approach is more important than ever because of the areas that we have chosen to focus on. Within our ODA allocations, the areas tha…”