Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Blogs

A unique insight into UK foreign and development policy

11th March 2011 Ottawa, Canada

Introducing Shannon Jones – Recent addition to the SIN Team!

I’d like to take this moment to introduce our UKinCanada Science and Innovation readers to one of the newest members of our team.  Shannon has actually been with us (the SIN team) since just after the New Year, but is has been with the Consulate General in Toronto for longer than that working for the Consul General and […]

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11th March 2011

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by Leigh Turner

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

British business days in Ukraine

Anyone visiting Independence Square in the heart of Kyiv in the past few weeks will have seen the massive “British Business Days in Ukraine” banner stretched across the face of the Globus Shopping Centre.  The British Business Days in Ukraine (BBDU) are nearly here – they run from 17-19 March.  Some great British and Ukrainian […]

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10th March 2011

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by Martin Harris

British Ambassador to Ukraine

First the red lines then the red carpet

The UK’s Minister for Europe David Lidington has used the speech in the Netherlands to restate the argument for enlarging the EU. The UK has always supported the EU’s enlargement because we know this is in our national interest. It creates a bigger single market for our goods and services. It promotes competition and innovation. […]

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10th March 2011 London, UK

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by David Lidington

Minister for Europe, London

Partnerships for competitiveness and growth

http://youtu.be/DkRMwxLsowM I am visiting Denmark today; yesterday I was in the Netherlands. I’ve met with members of the Governments of both countries as well as business leaders and Parliamentarians. The UK has important bilateral political, economic and trade relationships with both the Netherlands and Denmark, and in my visits I’m keen to explore how we […]

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10th March 2011

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by Peter Millett

Ambassador to Libya, Tripoli

Attending a "Jaha"

One of the most stimulating aspects of working abroad is experiencing different cultures and traditions.  Different religions, histories and languages produce different ways of handling both daily challenges and major events.  There can be few greater events in a person’s life than marriage.  So I was delighted to be invited to take part in a […]

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10th March 2011

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by Leigh Turner

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

Using Experts to Fight Corruption

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) was set up in the United Kingdom in 2006 as a national law enforcement agency.  It has a terrific logo and website and acts as a repository for expertise on combating serious crime in the UK. So it’s a privilege to have two top counter-corruption experts from SOCA in […]

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9th March 2011

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by Nigel Baker

Ambassador to the Holy See (2011-2016)

Guest blog: The challenges of making Bolivia a less patriarchal society

To commemorate the centenary on 8 March of International Womens Day, I am delighted to welcome to our site a guest blogger, Katia Uriona Gamarra* Bolivia is living a political process in which women from different organizations and movements have arisen as political actors, placing in the public debate agendas related to raising complaints and […]

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9th March 2011

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by Greg Dorey

Diplomat

Including our friends

The UK is strongly committed to the European Union’s enlargement process. And so on 9 March the UK’s Minister for Europe David Lidington will give a keynote speech on EU Enlargement in the Hague. We are not only convinced about the value of enlargement but have played a leading role in driving it through. We […]

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8th March 2011 New York, USA

Video: Pushing the Elephant – International Women’s Day 2011

Guest video blog by Rose Mapendo and Elizabeth Mandel. Rose Mapendo is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was arrested during the violence in the late 1990s and imprisoned with her seven children, while her husband was murdered. Rose moved to the United States after fleeing the DRC and co-founded Mapendo New Horizons, […]

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8th March 2011

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by Peter Beckingham

Former governor in Turks and Caicos Islands

Largest ever overseas investment in India – by a British company

In February I took part in five workshops, from Edinburgh to Newmarket, and Leeds to London. These workshops were arranged and supported variously by UKTI, the Asia Task Force, RBS and The Economist Intelligence Unit about India. From the number of businesspeople who attended at each venue, probably over 500 in all, I was left […]

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