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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs
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14th January 2013 Paris, France
UK support to French forces in Mali
I want to talk today about the events of the last few days in Africa, starting by saying that our thoughts go to the families of the French soldiers and the hostage who have lost their lives in Mali and in Somalia.
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14th January 2013 New Delhi, India
GCSA at the Indian Science Congress
For my first day back at work in New Year I had the pleasure of welcoming UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Sir John Beddington (@uksciencechief) back to India. He was in Kolkata to speak at the inauguration of the 100th annual Indian Science Congress. Founded in 1914, in Kolkata, the Congress was the initiative […]
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11th January 2013 Warsaw, Poland
2013 Business is GREAT!
If you believe a number of our banking friends, 2013 is going to be an even better year than 2012 in Emerging Europe. Set right at the heart of Europe, Poland is set to have a robust year even if we do not have the dazzling growth figures which we have seen whole the world […]
10th January 2013 Beirut, Lebanon
Success in the 21st Century – Ten Questions for Lebanon 2020
This week I was asked to speak at USEK, on ‘How Does Lebanon Succeed in the 21st Century?”. Tough audience, tough subject. Especially on the first day back, and after a night of epic storms (during which my sons had taken it in turns to wake me to tell me how frightened they were). In […]
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9th January 2013 Nairobi, Kenya
Somalia: A New Year’s Resolution – Together into 2013
A year ago, few predicted that Somalia would see such significant changes; yet 2012 saw some real progress in Somalia – including the end of the Transition; a new Parliament (with a significant number of new MPs); the election of a new, reform-minded Speaker and President and a desire for a different type of politics. […]
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9th January 2013 Harare, Zimbabwe
A different story from Helmand – the BBC investigates progress in civilian institution-building
To listen to some commentators, you might easily gain the impression that no progress has been or can made in Helmand, and as soon as Britain and its Nato allies hand over full responsibility to Afghan institutions, it will collapse back into the violent fundamentalism of the 1990s. In fact, we are increasingly confident that […]
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9th January 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Pope Benedict speaks to the World
As is traditional, earlier this week Pope Benedict XVI received ambassadors from the 179 countries accredited to the Holy See for his New Year’s address on Holy See concerns, interests and recommendations on the main foreign affairs issues of the day. Behind the pomp and circumstance of one of the great annual events of the […]
9th January 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
New Year in Sydney… and bushfires
Once again we spent New Year’s Eve watching the spectacular fireworks in Sydney Harbour, from the 16th floor office of our Sydney Consulate General. The city was packed with revellers. I was very impressed with how easy it was to get back afterwards, as public transport was running late into the night and free of […]
8th January 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The 3 Ts of the G8 – what would they mean to us?
In 2013 the UK holds the Presidency of the G8 (the group of 8, the governments of 8 of the world’s largest economies). Even though Guatemala and Honduras do not form part of the G8 the themes of the UK’s Presidency are very relevant here. We want to drive global prosperity by promoting open economies, […]
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8th January 2013 Washington DC, USA
FCO Seeks Innovative NGO Counter-Proliferation Projects to Fund
How do you prevent the spread of dangerous weapons around the world? Negotiations? Treaties? Sanctions? Seizing illegal shipments? Securing dangerous materials? All of these play an important part. But there is always room for innovation. And who is better suited than the wealth of NGOs and think-tanks based here in the US to combine their […]
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