Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

28th January 2013

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Why is everyone investing in the UK? Why aren’t you?

Why is the Turkish company HDM Steel setting up a £7m manufacturing plant in South Wales? Take a look at the world. Think about countries where you might possibly imagine investing your money. Do they have a solid record on stability and democracy? Do they rank highly on ease of doing business, with a predictable […]

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25th January 2013 Toronto, Canada

Eight great technologies

Earlier this week, Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts gave a speech at the Policy Exchange on “eight great technologies” which will help the UK grow and prosper over the next decade. You can read the speech here, the BIS press release here and the Policy Exchange pamphlet here. Let’s look at each technology […]

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25th January 2013 London, UK

Hugo Swire

The minister responsible for: Far East and South East Asia, India and Nepal, Latin, America (including: Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba), Falklands, Australasia and Pacific, and the Commonwealth.

Why Latin America matters to Britain

London 2012 will be remembered as an event that created pride and excitement in the UK, and gave us the chance to show what we do best. Now it is Brazil’s turn, and it is the turn of Latin America. The first Olympic Games on this continent may be overdue, but it is certainly a […]

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25th January 2013 Budapest, Hungary

by Jonathan Knott

Former British ambassador to Hungary, Budapest

The future of the EU and the UK’s role in it

As you may have seen, on Wednesday morning the British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech in London entitled: ‘The Future of the EU and the UK’s role within it’. In the speech he set out his views as Head of Government of a flexible, adaptable and open European Union. As Conservative Party leader […]

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25th January 2013

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

What "The Wire" tells us about Turkish shipping

In the second season of the excellent US series “The Wire”, a trade unionist working on the Baltimore docks says he’s just seen a film about Rotterdam – one of the most automated container ports in the world.  He calls it a horror movie. I thought of “The Wire” during the recent “Container Handling Technology […]

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25th January 2013

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by Paul Johnston

Ambassador to Ireland

Five Principles for Europe’s Future

As you will have seen, the British Prime Minister made an important speech on the future of the EU in London on 23 January. The PM’s speech reiterates his commitment to keeping the UK in the EU, at the heart of the Single Market, but also leading EU action on energy, climate change, development, foreign […]

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25th January 2013 Cape Town, South Africa

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by Simon Atkinson

Deputy Head of Mission, Cape Town

WWF secondment helping develop new policy area

Guest Blog from Suzanne Carter, Climate Change Officer Many UK staff take a secondment into another government department over the course of their careers as civil servants but is there a way to replicate this exposure (on a smaller scale) for Locally Engaged Staff? My line manger thought it was at least worth a try! […]

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25th January 2013 Windhoek, Namibia

Marianne Young

by Marianne Young

High Commissioner, Windhoek

British support to Namibian campaign to tackle ‘baby-dumping’

A front page story of a tragic case of “baby-dumping” – the abandonment of newborn babies often in isolated locations – marked a sad start to the new year in Namibia. Whilst reporting of such heart-breaking cases appears to be on the increase in local papers, no one can provide precise figures as neither infanticide […]

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25th January 2013 New Delhi, India

Healthy Indo-UK research relationship!

Last week was Health Week for the British Deputy High Commission in Bangalore, with four separate delegations in Bangalore, all with a health interest. First we had Anna Soubry MP, the UK Minister for Public Health. She was in India (visiting Delhi, Trivandrum, Bangalore and Chennai) to explore opportunities for increased collaboration on primary healthcare […]

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