Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

3rd November 2016 Khartoum

Osama Faisal

Osama Faisal

Sudanese state minister of investment

Doing business in Sudan: thoughts from the Sudanese state minister of investment

Last month, we received an invitation at the Sudanese Ministry of Investment from the UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills to attend a business conference at Lancaster House, London, which was commissioned in 1825. The conference was about ‘Shaping Business Environments for Global Growth and Prosperity’. I attended this conference and I am delighted for this […]

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31st October 2016 Vientiane, Laos

James Toone

James Toone

Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy Vientiane

Laos: Pacifying the “Wild East” for wildlife trafficking

Illegal ivory trade in Laos

As the Chinese government in recent years clamped down on illicit wildlife trade (IWT), smugglers and buyers have shifted much of their business to China’s small southern neighbour – Lao PDR. The Lao government is struggling to develop effective measures against the growing trade and the involved international syndicates. The United Kingdom together with other […]

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28th October 2016 Holy See

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by Sally Axworthy

Ambassador to the Holy See

Modern Slavery: A priority for the UK and Pope Francis

On 27 October the Embassy hosted a visit by the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, who was at the Vatican to attend a meeting of the Santa Marta Group, a gathering of police chiefs and bishops on preventing human trafficking and modern slavery. This issue is a top priority for the UK, and for Pope Francis. […]

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28th October 2016 Tripoli, Libya

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by Peter Millett

Ambassador to Libya, Tripoli

The Power of English

English is the most widely spoken language in the world.  Chinese is number one for the number of native speakers, but with 400 million mother-tongue speakers and at least as many using it as a second language, English has become the world’s main communication tool. How did a language brought to Britain by settlers from […]

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28th October 2016 Kolkata, India

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by Bruce Bucknell

Former British Deputy High Commissioner Kolkata

Innovating with technology

I hope it won’t have escaped readers’ attention that Britain will be this year’s partner nation for India’s annual TECH Summit on 7-9 November in Delhi. People like me have been talking, tweeting and explaining about TECH Summit – #TECHSmt if you are on Twitter – for some weeks now. Our efforts to disseminate the […]

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27th October 2016 Istanbul, Turkey

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by Gareth Bayley

UK Special Representative for Syria

To the children inside Syria

In August, the former British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher wrote an open letter to the children of Syria apologising for the international community’s failure to fully fund education for Syrian refugees. The letter was also a call to action to ensure donors who made pledges at the Syria London Conference in February honoured their […]

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27th October 2016 Istanbul, Turkey

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by Gareth Bayley

UK Special Representative for Syria

To the children inside Syria

In August, the former British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher wrote an open letter to the children of Syria apologising for the international community’s failure to fully fund education for Syrian refugees. The letter was also a call to action to ensure donors who made pledges at the Syria London Conference in February honoured their […]

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27th October 2016 Auckland, New Zealand

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by Alasdair Hamilton

Consul General & Deputy Governor to the Pitcairn Islands

Teaching Space Science in the Classroom: An Innovative Education Programme from the UK National Space Academy

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a cosmonaut and an astronaut? Or why most rocket launch sites are near the equator? Or actually how far above your head is Space? Well I’ve got answers to those at the foot of this blog. But another thing you might want to ask yourself (particularly […]

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26th October 2016 Delhi, India

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by Tamil Selvan Chandru

Senior Adviser - Newton Fund India

Start-up recipe of success and the role of leadership

One of the commonly used buzz word today is ‘ecosystem’ especially when it comes to Technology Business Incubator (TBI) and start ups. So to find out more I spoke with Karthik Durgaprasad, who works in South East England for local government. Karthik has over ten years plus experience of delivering start-up programmes in London for […]

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25th October 2016 Skopje, North Macedonia

Paul Edwards

Paul Edwards

Deputy Head of Misison, British Embassy Skopje

Imagine a world without investigative journalism

I attended a conference on investigative journalism recently and had the chance to meet both journalists and those who support them. I took the opportunity to thank them for the difficult, and sometimes dangerous job they do. A job which is so important to the public interest and for which few journalists get the recognition […]

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