8th November 2024
Ecolabels: A Catalyst for Sustainable Food Choices?
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy
17th October 2024
OSLOBOĐENJE BEOGRADA
11th October 2024
Busting the gender myths – women and organised crime
21st June 2013 London, UK
Kosovo wins recognition from over half United Nations states
It has been over five years since Kosovo’s Assembly declared independence. Since 17 February 2008 many diverse countries, from Pakistan to Panama, from Swaziland to Sweden, have recognised Kosovo’s independence. And, this year, Guyana, Tanzania and Yemen have decided to join that number. Significantly, this means Kosovo is now recognised as an independent state by […]
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20th June 2013 Ottawa, Canada
Delivering on UK’s Renewed Interest in Nuclear Energy
The nuclear renaissance The detrimental impact of the coal industry on the environment, concerns over depleting fossil fuel reserves, and difficulty in keeping carbon emissions at bay has landed nuclear power back on top of the UK’s political agenda. Currently, the 16 reactors in the UK contribute 19% of electricity to the energy mix, and […]
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20th June 2013 Washington DC, USA
“Sticking” Together for Transatlantic Trade
As a Senior Trade Policy Advisor here at the Embassy in Washington, part of my role over the last few months has been in helping to coordinate the delicate dance required in the run-up to the launch of a major international negotiation.
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20th June 2013 Athens, Greece
Building Bridges – Guest Blog
Rania Kossiori, VC Rhodes, blogs about her shadowing trip to EUMed department and the Minister of Europe’s private office. I have been working as Vice Consul in Rhodes for the last 8 years. During this time, a lot of changes have taken place in the way that we provide assistance to British nationals overseas […]
20th June 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A new refugee is displaced every four seconds
It is hard to comprehend the life of refugees who have been displaced from their homes. Some separated from their loved ones. Unable to earn a living to support their families. Their children forced out of school and living in compounds not knowing when things will go back to normal. (If they ever do – […]
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20th June 2013 New Delhi, India
Karnataka State Innovation Council
Sam Pitroda, as Chair of the National Innovation Council of India, wrote to the Chief Ministers of each State in 2010 suggesting they set up their own Innovation Council to “drive the innovation agenda… and harness the core competencies, local talent, resources and capabilities to create new opportunities” in their State. To date, 22 States […]
20th June 2013 Windhoek, Namibia
Visit to Osire Refugee camp in central Namibia
Today (20 June) is International World Refugee Day 2013 – and I marked the event by travelling out to Osire Refugee Settlement in central Namibia earlier this week. I was surprised when I arrived in Windhoek to discover that the country had a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)-run resettlement camp filled largely by Angolans and Congolese. […]
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20th June 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Australia: gas super power
Hard hat, heavy boots, pre-dawn start. That’s what a visit to an Australian resources site entails. I’m getting used to it. Australia is a gas superpower, on its way to overtaking Qatar as the world’s largest LNG exporter by the end of the decade. British companies are big players in developing the industry, offshore in […]
19th June 2013 Beirut, Lebanon
G8 Summit: Lebanon does not face Syria refugee crisis alone
The windy resort of Lough Erne in Northern Ireland this week must have felt far from the millions of Syrians whose lives have been ripped apart by conflict. Yet many of the G8 leaders meeting there have seen the human impact for themselves. Prime Minister David Cameron’s focus on stopping the war in Syria is […]
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19th June 2013 Tashkent, Uzbekistan
The Aral Kum and the Kyzyl Kum
I visited Muynak recently with a senior representative of the British parliament. I’d read a lot about the Aral Sea, since the 1980s when I first worked on Soviet issues (as they were then). It’s one of those things – not by any means unique to the former Soviet Union – that illustrates humanity’s ability […]