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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Ukraine

22nd November 2011

UK-Ukraine Air Services Agreement

To the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to sign, alongside Foreign Minister Hryshchenko, a new Air Services Agreement between the UK and Ukraine.  This is a formal ceremony: as ambassador, I have been granted “full powers” to sign the Agreement on behalf of the UK Government, and the resultant Agreement is a legally binding international treaty.

The new Agreement is designed to ensure air services between Ukraine and the UK are run in full conformity with EU and international law and replaces an agreement dating back to 1993.  The most significant part of the agreement is the opening up of services to and from all parts of Ukraine and all parts of the UK: this could potentially lead to more low-cost services between the two countries.  The Agreement also contains important enhanced safety provisions.

With a visit planned to Donetsk next week, once home to the Welshman John Hughes, I look forward to the development of increased links between provincial cities in Ukraine and the UK, as well as direct flights between Kyiv and London.

Signing of the Air Services Agreement between the UK and Ukraine, Leigh Turner and Kostyantyn Gryshchenko

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.

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