17th July 2025
Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
15th July 2025
International Day of Women in Diplomacy: UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls visit to Geneva
1st May 2025
The UN Commission on the Status of Women: My first visit as UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls
17th July 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
How to finance imports from Britain to Turkey
Did you know that UK Export Finance (UKEF) can help you finance imports from the United Kingdom? And that they have their own resident expert, Sinan Ozcan, right here in Turkey, responsible for project business development? UK Export Finance is the UK’s export credit agency. It works closely with overseas buyers to help them finance […]
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17th July 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Pope Francis at work
The following is a guest blog by Steve Townsend, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy to the Holy See In July in Rome, thoughts start to turn to holidays, and escaping the humidity of the Eternal City for the beach or the mountains. Most people think that they have deserved their break, and […]
17th July 2014 New Delhi, India
India Budget – new plans in R&D infrastructure and a lot more
The recently announced federal budget by the newly elected Government of India has unveiled a slew of initiatives to boost growth of India’s scientific capabilities. The focus is particularly on improvement of agricultural productivity, biotech clusters, capacity creation in health and education, clean energy initiatives and development of water resources and river conservation. Most of […]
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17th July 2014 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Reflecting Modern Britain
I think it’s fair to say that historically, the Foreign Office has struggled to recruit staff from diverse backgrounds and has suffered from a perception of being elitist and detached. In fact, I remember the reaction of some members of my extended family when I told them in 2002 that I would be joining the […]
16th July 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Саммит НАТО в Уэльсе
Гостевой блог Временного поверенного в делах Великобритании в Казахстане Грега Куинна 4-5 сентября 2014 г. в Ньюпорте, Уэльс, состоится Саммит НАТО. Это будет самый представительный форум мировых лидеров когда-либо проходивший в Великобритании. Ожидается, что в нем примут участие главы государств, министры, военноначальники из 60 стран и около 1500 журналистов во всего мира. Саммит пройдет в период […]
16th July 2014 Islamabad, Pakistan
50 Days to Go: NATO Summit in Wales 2014
Pakistan has been invited to join leaders, senior ministers and Defence Chiefs from around 60 countries at the NATO summit in Wales in early September. The summit is planned to be the largest gathering of international leaders ever to take place in Britain. The summit comes as NATO draws down in Afghanistan, its longest ever […]
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15th July 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Securing TCI Borders: A Labour of Love
A guest blog from Simon Excell, an immigration adviser to the Ministry of Border Control. During a recent meeting with The Governor, he asked if I would be a “guest blogger” on his site, to talk about my work over the past two years with the Ministry of Border Control and Labour. Needless to say, […]
15th July 2014 Athens, Greece
Wales: A country of castles, dragons, natural beauty…and a summit
In early September, the UK will host the next NATO Summit at Newport. The Summit will be an important event in itself, but it’s also an opportunity for us to promote one of the less known countries of the United Kingdom: Wales! Most of the Anglophone Greeks I know are in love with London. More […]
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14th July 2014 Washington DC, USA
Testing new technologies for the battlefield
The following is a guest post from Captain Graham Henderson, Plans Staff Officer within the Headquarters of the UK’s 1st Mechanized Brigade who participated in the Network Integration Evaluation (NIE). Heavy wind gusts and unforgiving terrain set ideal conditions for testing new equipment in a joint exercise known as the NIE. The Network Integration Evaluation […]
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14th July 2014 London, UK
A digital Summit like no other: Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict
This is the second in a series of 3 blog posts about the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. See blog 1 and blog 3. Having done the groundwork (see blog posting) the FCO’s digital team role during the Summit was twofold: To take the summit and fringe to those outside. To bring […]
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