Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

30th March 2012 Guatemala City, Guatemala

by David McNaught

Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy, Guatemala

Howzat! Cricket in Guatemala

The sound of leather on willow, quintessentially British but now being heard around the fields of Guatemala thanks to the efforts of a friend of this Embassy, Luke Humphries, who, with his dad and some eager friends, have launched Guatemala’s first Cricket Club. His guest blog, below, reveals all. But be warned: cricket comes with […]

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29th March 2012 Lima, Peru

Ecobuild: cost effective low carbon designs, products and solutions

By Juan Luis Reus, Deputy Director UKTI, Peru Time flies they say and that is true at Ecobuild (20to 22 March), the world’s largest event for sustainable design, construction and the build environment. Two days had passed at ExCel, where this huge world class event was being held when I wrote this second blog. Huge […]

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29th March 2012

by Judith Macgregor

British High Commissioner to South Africa

Simon Fraser in Mexico

I am delighted to have Simon Fraser, Head of the UK Diplomatic Service, as my guest blogger today. During his recent visit to Mexico, Simon Fraser spoke about the important and growing bilateral relationship between the UK and Mexico in a range of areas, including politics, education, trade and investment. Watch the video blog:

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29th March 2012 Ottawa, Canada

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by Corin Robertson

Deputy High Commissioner to Canada

“Some chicken! Some neck!”

On Monday evening the High Commissioner and I attended a reception at the Canadian House of Commons to celebrate the opening of a Library exhibit commemorating 70 years since Churchill’s world-renowned “Some chicken! Some neck!” speech. Few Canadians, I know, will be confused by that reference. But for the uninitiated, this was from Winston Churchill’s […]

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29th March 2012 Budapest, Hungary

by Jonathan Knott

Former British ambassador to Hungary, Budapest

Building the Olympics

I can’t wait for the Olympics to start. I love to watch sport and the Olympics is really special.  It’ll be even more special this year in London. I didn’t get any tickets in the public ballot so I’ll be watching the Games on TV. But the quality and diversity of the competition will be […]

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28th March 2012

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Visiting Scotland

In a recent blog, I noted after a visit to Northern Ireland the importance for British ambassadors abroad of understanding the country they represent. I spent last weekend in Edinburgh, at the kind invitation of the Scottish Catholic Bishops Conference. My programme included: meetings with the Catholic Bishops of Scotland, including Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien; […]

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28th March 2012

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by Martin Harris

British Ambassador to Ukraine

Linking London and Bucharest Stock Exchanges

This week the Bucharest Stock Exchange established a partnership with the largest financial market in the world – the London Stock Exchange. When the UK’s Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green met the Foreign Investors Council in Bucharest earlier this month, one of the participants, Adrian Rosca of Chemco, made the far-sighted proposal that Romania […]

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28th March 2012 Warsaw, Poland

Martin Oxley, Head, UKTI Poland

by Martin Oxley

Director of UKTI Warsaw

UKTI Deputy CEO sees Polish Opportunity First Hand

Susan Haird visiting one of the largest Tesco supermarkets in Poland

Poland tops the opportunity rankings in Central Europe. We are the largest export destination and the biggest population with the longest road to EU convergence – the latter really matters in appreciating the full potential of Poland’s growth cycle. Our UKTI Deputy CEO, Susan Haird, was in town last week for a two day market […]

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28th March 2012

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by Greg Dorey

Diplomat

Ambo in Ambo

“Ambo” is slang for Ambassador. So as soon as I knew of the existence of a town by that name in Ethiopia, I was keen to visit – I’ll go a long way for a good blog title. So I visited Ambo last Friday, not least so I could learn more about development outside of […]

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