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Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

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6th September 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Australian sports minister rows Olympic Course at Eton Dorney

Back in London again for the Paralympics, Australian Sports Minister Senator Kate Lundy this week fulfilled her side of the gold medals wager with her UK counterpart Hugh Robertson. When Hugh was here in March, Kate had promised to row the Olympic Rowing course at Eton Dorney if Britain got more gold medals than Australia. […]

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3rd September 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

On the climate change frontline in the South Pacific

British Environment Minister Richard Benyon described his attendance at the Pacific Islands Forum in Raratonga, the Cook Islands, as being on the frontline of climate change. In many meetings with ministers from the region, he heard about the vulnerability of low lying island states to sea level rise, and about how many Pacific islands are […]

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23rd August 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Dreamtime in Northern Queensland rainforest

At 135 million years, the Daintree Rainforest is the oldest rainforest on earth. The Yalanji people have lived there for around 40,000 years. I was invited to visit the new indigenous eco-tourism development at Mossman Gorge, just north of Cairns, a week after it opened. Our local guide, Harold, was a mine of information as […]

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9th August 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Not the End of Geography

Globalisation, advances in communications, the “shrinking of distance” do not mean the End of Geography, any more than the collapse of communism presaged the End of History, as Francis Fukuyama claimed. That was the thesis of a talk on “Geography and Diplomacy” I gave to the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland this week. The state’s […]

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30th July 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

London: the centre of the world

Waiting to do a radio interview, I heard an ABC reporter in the slot before me say, “When you’re here in London with all the history and all the international connections, it really feels like it’s the centre of the world.” And, at least for the next few weeks, so it is. July 27 began […]

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19th July 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Geelong: identifying new economic opportunities

Traditional manufacturing centres in Australia and Britain continue to evolve as global supply chains are transformed. Geelong, Victoria’s second city, is responding to challenges which would be familiar in many British cities. Employment has been declining in its historical large manufacturing sectors like car-making and aluminium-smelting, not helped by the strong Australian dollar. Ford announced some further […]

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13th July 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Iron awe in the Pilbara

Anglo Australian giant Rio Tinto earns $21bn a year from mining in Western Australia. They took me to visit their vast iron-ore mining operation in the remote Pilbara region, some 1000 km north of Perth. As I lined up at the airport with hundreds of miners in their hi-vis jackets, at 4.30 am, I reflected […]

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27th June 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Australia looks forward to a great Olympics in one month’s time

Over the last few weeks I’ve attended Olympic send-off ceremonies in all the major states, culminating with the national event – the Prime Minister’s Olympic Dinner– in Melbourne on 23 June. They have been a fantastic showcase for the UK, as well as a demonstration of the Olympic enthusiasm in this sports mad country. The […]

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25th June 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Blood and opium in Tasmania

Nestling amidst the verdant farmlands of northern Tasmania, I saw British companies engaged in fascinating high tech businesses linked to agriculture. Around half the world’s legitimate opiates are produced in Tasmania, half of them by UK pharma giant GSK. They process poppies grown by some 400 farms around the island, which go on to become […]

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21st June 2012

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Defence visit by all party group of MPs

A group of senior MPs are currently visiting, to explore Australian thinking on Defence: Jim Murphy (Labour, Shadow Defence Secretary), Claire Perry (Conservative, PPS to the Defence Secretary) and Sir Bob Russell (Lib Dem, Member of the Defence Select committee). In Canberra they met the Australian Defence Minister and Opposition spokesman, as well as a range […]

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About Paul Madden

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017. He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia…

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017.

He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia until February 2015. Prior to this he was British High Commissioner in Singapore from 2007-2011.

A career diplomat, he was previously Managing Director at UK Trade and Investment (2004-2006), responsible for co-ordinating and
implementing international trade development strategies to support
companies across a wide range of business sectors.

As Assistant Director of Information at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (2003-2004) he was responsible for public diplomacy policy,
including managing the FCO funding of the BBC World Service, the British
Council and the Chevening Scholarships programme. He led the team
responsible for the award-winning UK pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Japan
2005.

He was Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore from 2000-2003 and has
also served in Washington (1996-2000) and Tokyo (1988-92). Between
1992-96 he worked on EU enlargement and Environmental issues at the FCO
in London.

Before joining FCO he worked at the Department of Trade and Industry
(1980-87) on a range of industrial sectors and trade policy, including
two years as a minister’s Private Secretary.

He has an MA in Economic Geography from Cambridge University, an MBA
from Durham University, studied Japanese at London University’s School
of Oriental and African Studies, and is a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society. His first book, Raffles: Lessons in Business
Leadership, was published in 2003.

Married to Sarah, with three children, he was born in 1959, in Devon.