Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

2nd May 2016 New Delhi, India

by Jagori Dhar

Head - Press and Communications, UK Trade, Investment & Prosperity

UK and India driving a success story

The Indian connection at the heart of the UK automotive boom, and the $4 billion opportunity for Indian companies. As I made my journey into what (on first impressions) appeared to be a rather nondescript northern English town, Crewe, I was surprised to see the number of Indians getting off the train, at the bus station and surprisingly […]

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2nd May 2016 Delhi, India

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by Anshika Jha

UK Intellectual Property Office’s (UK IPO) Attaché

Roundtable on feasibility of establishing a national IP court in India

Earlier this month, IIT Kharagpur’s IPR cell organised a roundtable to discuss the feasibility of establishing a National IP Court in India, under a project being funded by the UK Intellectual Property Office.  The roundtable was chaired by Hon’ble Justice Prabha Sridevan (former Judge Madras High Court and Chairman Intellectual Property Appellate Board).  Several senior […]

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29th April 2016

Stephen Townsend

Stephen Townsend

Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy to the Holy See

Britain and Human Rights

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Annual Human Rights and Democracy Report was published on 21 April.  This report is aimed at increasing awareness of the UK’s role in promoting human rights work overseas, and to encourage countries to uphold and maintain their international human rights record. The Report lists 30 human rights priority countries: these […]

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28th April 2016 Addis Ababa

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by Susanna Moorehead

Former British Ambassador to Ethiopia

HM Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th Birthday and Commemorating Shakespeare

I was pleased to welcome a large number of guests to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday,  at the British Ambassador’s Residence. The Queen’s Birthday party or QBP, as we call it in the Embassy, is an event hosted by all posts across the world to celebrate and cement relations between the UK and the corresponding country. This year we […]

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28th April 2016 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Did you know? UK-Ethiopia Profile of the Month

Major- General Orde Charles Wingate The Second World War hero and a British army officer, Major- General Orde Charles Wingate, was born on 26 February 1903, in Naini Tal, near Almora, in Kumaon, India. Most of Wingate’s childhood was spent in England. For the first 12 years of his life, he socialized primarily with his siblings. […]

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27th April 2016 London, UK

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by Lorey Campese

Head of Digital, UK Mission to the United Nations in New York

Opening a window in the smoke-filled room: Twitter and the #nextSG

Six years ago to the day, I signed into Twitter for the first time. At the time I was studying for exams and though I had a budding interest in the United Nations (UN), the concept of diplomacy was frankly pretty alien. Little did I know, about a half decade later, I would sit at […]

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27th April 2016 London, UK

Alex Ellis

Alex Ellis

Ambassador to Brazil

Ready, set, Rio! The race is on!

Today we mark 100 days to the start of the 2016 Olympics games in Rio. It’s also the first of a series of blogs which I and colleagues will write as we prepare for the Games. To celebrate the milestone, we have created a video with some Olympic and Paralympic stars, providing British nationals travelling […]

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27th April 2016 Skopje, North Macedonia

Marina Gjorgjioska Kitanoska

Marina Gjorgjioska Kitanoska

Project coordinator at the Centre for Civic Initiative

Testimonials: Improving social cohesion in high schools in Macedonia

Quality and inclusive education is one of the basic principles for the democratization of the society. Macedonian education system has made efforts to give an accent and importance of teaching the youth to recognise differences and value them, to include the youth in their school environment, respect different ethnicities and link students through learning about coexistence and […]

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26th April 2016 London, UK

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by Phil Buckley

Digital Transformation Manager

Emergency travel documents online: getting people home the complicated way

This is actually a bit harder than I realised

Last year I wrote a number of ‘Photo casebooks’ talking about what an emergency travel document is, and our plans to digitise the application process for an emergency travel document. The project is still invitation only, but has now been rolled out worldwide; and at least until our legalisation online project goes live, it is […]

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26th April 2016 Beirut, Lebanon

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by Hugo Shorter

British Ambassador to Lebanon

War and Reconciliation

Yesterday I participated in an ANZAC ceremony for the first time: a moving dawn service led by Australian Ambassador Glenn Miles to commemorate the fallen of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in the battle of Gallipoli, 1915.  This tragic battle helped forge the modern countries of Australia and New Zealand.  There was […]

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