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Leigh Turner

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

29th August 2019 Vienna, Austria

After three years, more #keenonWien than ever

Vienna's Stephansdom in all its glory, a must-see for any visitor in the Austrian capital

Today I celebrate my three-year anniversary in Vienna.  A lot has happened since I stepped off the train from London (via Salzburg) in August 2016.

Together with my team at the Embassy we have have done a lot of work on Brexit – including doing our best to make sure that all 11,000 Brits in Austria will be able to continue to live and work in this country.  We have also had the Austrian EU Presidency; arranged countless senior visits to Vienna; and initiated great projects on business, culture, science and education cooperation.

I believe it is vital to understand Austria as well as possible.  So I make a big effort to get out and about, and often tweet about it.

Since 2016, I have been documenting favourite spots and Vienna moments under the hashtag #keenonwien on twitter and Instagram – 427 so far.

You can find here a short video we made last year highlighting the first 24 months of my stay.  But I keep finding more reasons to be keen on Wien.  So do follow me on twitter, or search or put an alert on for #keenonWien.  To mark three years, I have highlighted favourite recent shots.  Scroll down…

What are your best “secret” tips about Vienna?

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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