Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

13th March 2014 Warsaw, Poland

Martin Oxley, Head, UKTI Poland

by Martin Oxley

Director of UKTI Warsaw

Say Cheese – Say Cheshire

Say Cheese – We’ve been all the way to Chester to taste some Cheshire Piesek P is on the lookout for GREAT British Cheese in Poland – as he finds it he’ll let you know – just smile, Cheshire Cheese is thought to be Britain’s oldest named cheese. It was originally the generic name for […]

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13th March 2014 Sofia, Bulgaria

A Peek into the Photo Albums

by Alan Burner Alan Burner was 3rd Secretary at the British Embassy Sofia, 1970-1972, and Deputy Head of Mission, 1984-1987. In 1964, Alan spent a fortnight holiday with the family of Sir William Harpham, Britain’s first Ambassador to Bulgaria, at his Residence in Sofia. (Before that there were British Agents, Consul-Generals, High Commissioners and Political Representatives). Alan kept […]

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13th March 2014

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by Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

Critical Days For Diplomacy On Ukraine

Britain’s longest serving Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, famously looked out from his office overlooking St James’ Park in early August 1914 and, as war loomed, commented “the lamps are going out all over Europe”. I often thought of those words in August 2008, during the Russian aggression in Georgia, not  least as my office, as […]

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12th March 2014 Yerevan, Armenia

Woman who leads with kindness and quiet confidence

Within the framework of the women’s month celebrations, we wanted to underline the many roles which women play in society – but particularly the role of women as leaders.  Ambassador Kathy Leach met Lyudmila Petrova, head of the village Verin Dvin in Ararat Marz. They discussed several topics, from community issues to challenges for women leaders. The village […]

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12th March 2014

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by Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

“A new era in Australia-UK relations”

That’s how Foreign Minister Julie Bishop described this week’s Australia UK Ministerial (AUKMIN) meeting in London, between Foreign and Defence Ministers from the two countries. William Hague responded by describing a “unique relationship that makes Australia one of our most important partners.” Ms Bishop opened the London Stock Exchange on Monday morning, then together with […]

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11th March 2014 London, UK

The Model United Nations in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office- by Dr Jon Yorke, Reader in Law, School of Law, Birmingham City University

On 11 February, 2014, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office hosted students from the BCU School of Law and the FCO Youth Inspiration Group for a Model United Nations Security Council Session. The event provided invaluable experience in Security Council member state presentations, the political intricacies of alliance building at the multilateral level for session voting, […]

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