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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
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International Day of Women in Diplomacy: UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls visit to Geneva
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11th November 2013 London, UKMadrid, Spain
Business and Human Rights
How was your shirt made? We’ve been working closely with our Spanish contacts on business and human rights in recent weeks. Globalisation means companies are increasingly sourcing and manufacturing their products via complex trans-national networks of suppliers and factories. But business success shouldn’t come at the cost of human rights. I’ve been sharing with the […]
11th November 2013 Chennai, India
Royal Visit
We all woke up early a few hours to see the horrifying death toll in the Philippines. A reminder of the power of nature. The resilience of the people is humbling. And the impressive speed at which NGOs and Aid Agencies – including DfID – have moved is impressive and will save many lives. We’re […]
10th November 2013 Warsaw, Poland
Business is GREAT Poland – Global Export Week
Global export week starts on 11 November and we’ve got a Polish team in the UK all week promoting the GREAT opportunities on offer for British companies in this fast growing market. Over the course of the week they’ve got over 100 meetings. If you haven’t made an appointment don’t worry – I am sure […]
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10th November 2013 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Fashion, Food and Famous Celebrities: Get Ready for KL’s First GREAT Week!
I’m delighted that Alison Collingridge, our Prosperity Promotion Manager, has agreed to write a guest blog on the amazing events taking place in KL next week. Alison has worked tirelessly for over a year to bring the very best of British to Malaysia – the new London Routemaster bus, specially commissioned Minis, one of our […]
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10th November 2013 Chennai, India
Visit to Kerala by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall
It’s really hard to believe that I’ve been in Chennai for 2 months: it still feels like a dream. Our departure from Cameroon was quick, with a one-week stop in the UK for a brilliant Course on South Asia at Kings. The perfect induction into Asia after 4 brilliant if challenging years in Africa. Working […]
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8th November 2013 Washington DC, USA
What Remembrance Day means to me
The following is a guest blog from Major James Knight from the Royal Marines. Major Knight works in the British Embassy as the staff officer to the Royal Marines Attaché. James has been in the Marines for 11 years and his career has seen him deploy to Iraq, Afghanistan and various ship deployments around the […]
8th November 2013 Brasilia, Brazil
Size doesn’t matter
Yesterday, the people of the Falkland Islands elected a new Legislative Assembly. So what? Who cares? Well, as a fan of the Islanders and an admirer of their way of life, I do. And much, much more importantly, the people who live on the Islands do. The Falkland Islanders are resourceful, resilient people. They need […]
8th November 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Diplomatic Cooperation at the Holy See: The Case of UK – Australia
Diplomats represent their country’s interests. Traditionally, this leads to barely veiled competition between embassies accredited to third governments: for access, for influence, for commercial contracts. We will occasionally pull together for a common cause – EU embassies often do so as a matter of course – but generally as ‘coalitions of the willing’ rather than […]
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8th November 2013 Kingston, Jamaica
A Tale of Two Conferences
The best, and worst, part of my job is that I have to go to many conferences and seminars. When they are done well they are stimulating, generate solutions and you come away having met great people and with an inspired outlook. When they are done badly, I know many of you have experienced those […]
8th November 2013 Budapest, Hungary
Open Government Partnership Summit in London
Guest blog by Levente Nyitrai, Senior Policy Officer. Some of you might have heard already that London hosted the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit 31 October and 1 November. OGP, of which the UK is a founding member, is an international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open and accountable. Close to […]
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