Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

3rd November 2013 Sana’a, Yemen

Jane Marriott, British Ambassador to Yemen

by Jane Marriott

British Ambassador to Yemen

Violence must stop

Yemen’s National Dialogue continues to make progress and the closing plenary has re-started its work after the break for the Id al-Adha.  But it still faces considerable challenges: it is time to reach agreement where possible and move to the next steps.  There is a lot of valuable work done by the National Dialogue that needs […]

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1st November 2013 Brasilia, Brazil

by Indranil Chakrabarti

Development Counsellor

A shared goal: the fight against poverty

Brazilian health minister Alexandre Padilha announced plans on Monday to produce a combined measles and rubella vaccine for developing countries, mainly in Africa. Brazil is following other leading emerging nations such as China and India in investing in biomedical technology to supply vaccines and medicines to developing countries at lower costs than those produced by […]

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1st November 2013

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by Bruce Bucknell

Former British Deputy High Commissioner Kolkata

Expanding the mind

I’ve had my mind expanded recently.  I heard how adult education had lifted someone out of depression.  I discovered organisations in Britain that I never knew existed.  And I’ve been reflecting on whether Britain is particularly focussed on adult education. It may not be the right question.  “Adult education” seems a British term.  There is […]

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31st October 2013

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by Sarah Dickson

Ambassador to Guatemala (June 2012 - June 2015)

Trade, Transparency and Vitamins? A snapshot of a busy week in a bilateral relationship

It has been all go between Guatemala and the UK this week. On Monday the Guatemalan Foreign Minister was in the UK attending the Parliamentary Conference on Drugs Policy Reform. He met the president of the Open Society Foundation, George Soros and with Norman Baker, Home Office Minister for State for Crime Prevention so that […]

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31st October 2013 Havana, Cuba

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by Tim Cole

Former British Ambassador to Cuba

La actualización del modelo económico británico

Al igual que Cuba, el Reino Unido tuvo que lidiar recientemente con algunos problemas económicos severos. En el 2008-2009, en medio de la crisis financiera y económica global, la economía británica se redujo en 7.2 %. La crisis dejó al modelo del Reino Unido expuesto a un crecimiento económico inestable y desbalanceado. El rango de […]

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31st October 2013 Ottawa, Canada

An idea to an award: winning the UKTI’s Graduate Entrepreneurs Festival

The following blog is by our guest blogger, Richard Loat who was part of the team that won 1st place at the UKTI Global Graduate Entrepreneurs’ Festival An idea to an award: winning the UKTI’s Graduate Entrepreneurs Festival I have been fortunate in many ways to be a child of the world. British-born, I grew […]

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31st October 2013 New York, USA

by Cassie Farrelly

Corporate Services Manager, British Consulate General, New York

The Importance of Being Costumed

New Yorkers have long cultivated a reputation for being nonplussed. We may well see a fistfight on the subway, an inflatable rat in front of a construction site, and an A-list movie star in fewer than five blocks– but we’re not going to let on that we did. Because in a city of 8 million […]

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31st October 2013

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Christians and Jews: A Roman Initiative

The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, Zion Evrony, recently took the initiative to invite diplomatic colleagues and officials of the Holy See to the Great Synagogue of Rome. The synagogue is one of the largest in Europe, built in 1870 between the Tiber and the old Jewish ghetto. The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Dr […]

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