This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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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 Turkey

3rd April 2013

Turkish-British partnership hits a high

great-500In late March, the sun beats down on metre-deep snow.  On slopes above, skiers glide.  At a hotel in the town centre, over 500 top Turkish business people and opinion formers have gathered.

Welcome to the Uludağ Economic Summit in Bursa – a fantastic launch-pad for the UK-Turkey GREAT campaign.

The GREAT campaign is all about deepening business and education links between the UK and Turkey.  In particular we want to:

  • Double trade between the UK and Turkey (in both directions) by 2015, from the level in 2009;
  • Boost British involvement in major Turkish infrastructure projects, and vice-versa;
  • Boost Turkish direct investment in the UK (the UK was the biggest direct investor in Turkey in 2012); and
  • Encourage the brightest and best Turkish students to come and study in British universities.

The British Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, launched the GREAT campaign at a gala dinner at the Uludağ Summit, along with Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Koç Holding CEO Turgay Durak.  The atmosphere was terrific, as was the (deafening) soundtrack of mostly British rock and pop which followed the launch, eventually drawing many of those present onto the dance-floor – a special kind of co-operation.

Through it all the message was clear:  Britain and Turkey are important partners, and we want to do more together.

You’ll see a lot more events in the GREAT campaign over the coming year.  Watch this space.

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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