Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

11th September 2012 Warsaw, Poland

Martin Oxley, Head, UKTI Poland

by Martin Oxley

Director of UKTI Warsaw

The biggest, greatest Olympic welcome back home ever!

21.20 last night the plane touched down at Okęcie Airport in Warsaw bringing back the best ever performing Polish Paralympic Team ever. 101 athletes across 11 disciplines; 36 medals – the 9th best team in the world, rank 3 in Europe and by far the leader of the pack in the Emerging Europe countries. A […]

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11th September 2012 London, UK

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by Rob Fenn

Head of Human Rights and Democracy Department, FCO

The Brunei Blogosphere: Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures

I read somewhere that Brunei Darussalam was the most “Facebooked” country in the world, on a per capita basis. Whether or not that’s true, Brunei’s extraordinary levels of literacy (94.9%, among the highest in the world), and online of freedom of expression, combine to make “virtual Brunei” a dynamic and fascinating place. With a population […]

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11th September 2012 Cape Town, South Africa

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by Simon Atkinson

Deputy Head of Mission, Cape Town

Cape Town winter

It’s been a dreary old winter in Cape Town – lots of rain and wind. It’s probably not what the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon John Bercow was expecting on his recent visit to the South African Parliament (which, incidentally, for historical reasons is based here, rather than the country’s capital city, […]

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7th September 2012

by Peter Tibber

Ambassador to Colombia

A few words from the UK Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan

From time to time I intend to invite guest bloggers to contribute to this space. I’m delighted that this week our special representative, who will be attending the negotiations in Addis, has written the following:  “I was delighted to have been appointed to this role in May of this year, following several years working on […]

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7th September 2012 Bangalore, India

Sunil Kumar M

by Sunil Kumar

Senior Science & Innovation Adviser

Catapulting innovation

Ever since I worked in Knowledge Management for Mahindra Satyam I have been fascinated by how research ideas become products on the shelf. Looking at examples of university spinouts or SMEs one realises that most success in the product space is due to hard work, access to the right ecosystems, funding, and technology networks to […]

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7th September 2012 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

by Nikesh Mehta

Counsellor for Foreign Policy and Security

They’re Almost Here…

With less than a week to go until The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive in Malaysia, the High Commission team is in overdrive trying to ensure that all of the events have been planned to the last detail and that we have the protocol, security and media requirements just right. I feel incredibly proud […]

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7th September 2012 Warsaw, Poland

Martin Oxley, Head, UKTI Poland

by Martin Oxley

Director of UKTI Warsaw

Young Business is Great!

Young people, skills and business! A great mix. I was very pleased to be opening an event today in the Embassy’s Conference Centre organised together with the British-Polish Chamber of Commerce (BPCC) and SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise). What’s that all about? SIFE is a CSR project which is supporting young people to understand business […]

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7th September 2012 Beirut, Lebanon

Tom Fletcher

by Tom Fletcher

Former British Ambassador to Lebanon

In Lebanon’s Hands

Lebanon tends to be high on our August watchlist. This year there was no major single crisis, but five developments raised anxiety. Israel accused Hizballah of involvement in the Bourgas terrorist attack. A pro-Assad former Minister was arrested. Kidnappings returned in a dangerous 48 hours. Some Gulf countries told their nationals to leave. The Tripoli […]

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7th September 2012 Windhoek, Namibia

Marianne Young

by Marianne Young

High Commissioner, Windhoek

Namibia brings back gold!

Namibia is celebrating after female paralympic sprinter Johanna Benson won gold in the Women’s T37 200 metres final in London on Wednesday night – marking the first Olympic gold for the country after a remarkable career. Johanna had also picked up a silver medal earlier in the week for coming in second in the women’s […]

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