This is the first in a series of occasional blogs on what the Consulates-General do in the US.
In New York, the Consulate-General is headquarters to UK Trade and Investment’s operations in the US (we’ll say more about how we support the British economy in future blogs). Our UK Borders Agency team handles visa applications from 34 countries in the Americas. We have a steady flow of senior visitors- about 140 a year. And we work in this incredible city: dynamic, diverse, rewarding, challenging, frustrating and amazing in the space of just about every hour of every day. Most of the world’s cultures are well represented here.
(I won’t get into the London vs New York thing. They’re both great. Having lived and worked in both, I’d say they’re two sides of the same coin.)
Highlights for 2010 so far:
– Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, visited in January.
– The Treasury Committee taking evidence from Paul Volcker in our offices in February. Commitee chairman John McFall MP also commented about the importance of UK-US trade.
– Kevin Brennan pursued the Government’s further education and skills agenda here in January- and spoke about the British economy.
– Two New York-based Brits, Marian McPartland and Peter Tear, honoured in the New Year list.
And coming up:
– International investment conference in London on 22 February, where US companies will be a strong presence.
– Nigel Sheinwald, HM Ambassador to the US, will drive forward our relationship with Yale University next week.
– And a couple of Ministerial visits which I’ll talk about in the next edition.