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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
1st November 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
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 […]
31st October 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
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
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 Washington DC, USA
Staying Committed to Aid Transparency
I’ve been looking forward to October 31st for some time now. Why you ask? Because it marks two occasions that signal the UK’s commitment to aid transparency – the official full launch of DFID’s Development Tracker website and the first day of the 2013 Open Government Partnership Summit. That may not have been the answer […]
31st October 2013 New York, USA
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 […]
31st October 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
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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31st October 2013 Ottawa, Canada
Ghosts, goblins and CETA
Although Halloween is a night for goblins and ghosts, it is a good example of how Canada-EU Comprehensive Trade Agreement (CETA) could offer a few more treats for revellers in the future…
31st October 2013 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Queen’s Baton Relay in Brunei
Early Tuesday morning. A bright and beautiful day. I am about to run the first couple of legs of a special relay linking 12 schools in Bandar, all eager to hold the Queen’s Baton during its two day stay in Brunei. The baton is surprisingly heavy since it’s made of titanium and solid wood. But […]
30th October 2013 Kingston, Jamaica
It all started with a Facebook post…
Last week we gave 7 laptop computers to a basic school in St Elizabeth. In furthering our public diplomacy objectives, our aim this time around was to engage with rural Jamaica but even more so to further impact the education sector beyond our Chevening scholarships. We decided to solicit the help of our Facebook users via a competition that would locate an early childhood […]
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