3rd June 2015 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
On Saturday I was lucky enough to attend a rugby match between Uzbekistan and India at the stadium in Dostlik, just outside Tashkent. The Uzbek team won convincingly, finishing with a magnificent try in the last few minutes of the match, when one of the Uzbek players forced his way through the Indian defenders and […]
29th May 2015 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
On Wednesday I attended a closing ceremony for the exhibition of graphic works by Henry Moore at the State Museum of Arts. Moore was one of the greatest British artists of the twentieth century. He is best known for his sculpture, much of it on a monumental scale and semi-abstract, but with a deep sense […]
22nd May 2015 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Over the last two years we have been keen buyers of local honey in Tashkent. One recent weekend we went to see where it comes from, and drove out of Tashkent to a meadow close to the hills behind Parkent. The beekeeper showed us the stack of hives stacked up on a large trailer, and […]
5th March 2015 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
On the eve of International Women’s Day the Deputy Head of Mission Fiona Maxton highlights the role women play in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and UK efforts in preventing violence against women and promoting their rights globally. She also illustrates the British Embassy’s work that makes our small contribution to improving the status of […]
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15th January 2015 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Last weekend I joined a group of Tashkent bird-watchers for the annual new-year count of water birds at the Tuyabuguz reservoir. It’s part of a world-wide effort co-ordinated by Wetlands International, in which Uzbekistan has participated for the last eight years. The weather was terrible – cold and rainy and misty – but we did […]
10th December 2014 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Today is International Human Rights Day, marking the promulgation in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One of the important questions that will be discussed today – including by Baroness Anelay, the Foreign Office’s Minister with responsibility for human rights issues, when she hosts a reception in London – is the role of […]
25th November 2014 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Today, 25 November, is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Violence against women is an issue that the British Government takes very seriously, domestically in the UK and internationally. In its resolution 63/155 of 18 December 2008, the United Nations strengthened its efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women. […]
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3rd November 2014 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
On Friday a new British visa centre, where applicants in Uzbekistan can hand in documents and give their biometrics for UK visa applications, opened in the Tashkent Plaza. It’s run by Teleperformance, who won a tender last year to operate Visa Applications Centres on behalf of the UK visa authorities throughout Europe and Central Asia. […]
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16th October 2014 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Today is blog action day, which brings together bloggers from different countries, interests and languages to blog about one important global topic on the same day. This year’s theme is inequality. One aspect of inequality is discrimination – allowing people different opportunities or different rights for reasons that are not or should not be relevant. […]
13th October 2014 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Last Thursday I joined other Tashkent Ambassadors in a visit to Samarkand to hear President Karimov’s speech at the opening of the 99th Executive Council session of the World Tourism Organisation. The president spoke about the value of tourism as a means of encouraging contact and understanding between nations, and about the rich history and […]