Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

23rd February 2016 Geneva, Switzerland

by Julian Braithwaite

Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva

The UN’s Role On Human Rights Is About More Than Julian Assange

Like all governments and international organisations, the UN sometimes gets a bad press. Recently the UN faced critical headlines following the release of an opinion by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Julian Assange was being arbitrarily detained in the UK. Now, the decision to conclude that someone who is evading Swedish justice by […]

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19th February 2016

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by Peter Beckingham

Former governor in Turks and Caicos Islands

BOOSTING THE TIES WITH CANADA AND THE DR

Building closer and more productive relations with other countries is the key part of many diplomats’ work,  and it is also vital for many Overseas Territories. Turks and Caicos Islands is no exception, and there have been two examples recently of how our Territory can benefit from working to enhance our relationship with neighbours. In […]

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19th February 2016

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Papal globetrotting

The Pope’s latest trip, to Mexico, and comment to journalists on his return that he’d like to go to China, has set me thinking about the way travel has changed Papal interaction with the world over the last fifty years. It is difficult to believe that before Pope Paul VI, Papal travel outside Italy was […]

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19th February 2016 Gaborone, Botswana

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by Nick Pyle

British High Commissioner to Botswana

Salang Sentle Bagaetsho

My assignment has ended and I have now left Botswana after three years that have flown by which is always the sign of an enjoyable posting. So this is my final and reflective blog, written from a freezing London. Never again will I complain about the heat. For my over-arching impression, I will stick with […]

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18th February 2016 Dublin, Ireland

Robin Barnett

by Robin Barnett

Former Ambassador to Ireland, Dublin

The GREAT Energy Summit showed Britain at its innovative best

The curtain has just fallen on the GREAT Energy Summit, one of our major events of the year in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE). This year, as I wrote earlier in the week, the Summit was in Warsaw, so I saw at first hand the amount of work that went into making it such a […]

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17th February 2016 Dublin, Ireland

Robin Barnett

by Robin Barnett

Former Ambassador to Ireland, Dublin

Central & Eastern Europe offers a pipeline of opportunities for British energy companies

The GREAT Energy Summit kicks off this morning, with more than 200 energy sector specialists from the UK and from across Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) coming together in Warsaw. Although the event is in Poland, it will present the opportunities that exist for UK companies across the whole of CEE – and, in turn, […]

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16th February 2016

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by Leigh Turner

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

Yeni Şafak and Yeni Akit: freedom of expression matters

I was pleased on 16 February to visit the editorial offices of Yeni Şafak with a number of EU Consuls-General.     We went to Yeni Şafak on a “geçmiş olsun” visit after last week’s attacks on Yeni Şafak and Yeni Akit.  This followed similar visits to Hurriyet and Sabah after attacks in 2015.  The UK […]

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16th February 2016 Skopje, North Macedonia

Monika Bozinoska

Monika Bozinoska

Chevening Scholar

Not everything you learn is in university

Living as a student in the UK what mainly contributes for my satisfaction are opportunities that the university offers. However, the quality of higher education in the UK is not news. It is well known that some of the best universities in the world are here, and they not only provide students with first-class academic knowledge, but also enable them to […]

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15th February 2016

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by Leigh Turner

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

How Turkish whizz-kids can scale-up fast

A young Turkish entrepreneur enters a hotel meeting room.  She comes face-to-face with some of Turkey’s top business gurus. ‘OK,’ says the chair, ‘you have five minutes to convince us.’ Five minutes later, after the young whizz-kid has set out her plans for growing her business by establishing a foothold in the UK, the assembled […]

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