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Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Part of UK in Australia

4th June 2014

British MPs in Canberra discuss Malaria and Foreign Policy

Herve Verhoosel, The Hon Julie Bishop, The Rt Hon Stephen O'Brien and HE Paul Madden

A busy week in Canberra with two separate visits by Members of the House of Commons.

The Rt Hon Stephen O’Brien MP, the PM’s Special Representative for the Sahel, was in Australia in his capacity as envoy for the Roll Back Malaria campaign. He is a passionate advocate for the cause and believes there is an opportunity for the world to substantially eradicate Malaria in this generation. He had just come from Papua New Guinea where he had seen some impressive anti-malaria work by the private sector company Oil Search.

He called on a number of officials and experts in Canberra, and I accompanied him in a call on Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. Australia shares our commitment to tackling this scourge of countries in the tropical zones. Julie Bishop was also very interested to discuss his experiences as a previous minister at the Department for International Development, as her own ministry is currently in the process of absorbing the former AusAID.

Herve Verhoosel, The Hon Julie Bishop, The Rt Hon Stephen O'Brien and HE Paul Madden
Herve Verhoosel, The Hon Julie Bishop, The Rt Hon Stephen O’Brien and HE Paul Madden

The Rt Hon John Spellar MP, Labour’s Shadow Deputy Foreign Minister, who held several ministerial positions in previous UK administrations, is a regular visitor to Australia and knows his way around Canberra well. Naturally he arranged most of his calls on a party basis with his Labor party contacts. But I accompanied him on a call on Julie Bishop and hosted a dinner for him to meet some of Australia’s top foreign policy thinkers, for a fascinating discussion on developments in the region.

Not surprisingly there was much interest in this political town in discussing the results of the recent European elections and the prospects for the Scottish referendum on 18 September. Most Australians of Scottish ancestry I meet here are – like the UK Government and the Labour Opposition – strongly of the view that Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom.

Both MPs attended a reception I was hosting for a visiting group from the UK’s Royal College of Defence Studies. This is a prestigious year-long UK staff course for senior military and officials from Britain and overseas countries. Many course participants go on to become heads of their respective Services. The group were spending a week in Australia, visiting Canberra and Darwin in the Northern Territory, in an intensive programme put together by my Defence Adviser, Commodore Richard Powell and his team. It was a very international group with course members from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. They enjoyed meeting Australian politicians, officials and military.

About Paul Madden

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017. He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia…

Paul Madden has been the British Ambassador to Japan from January 2017.

He was Additional Director for Asia Pacific at the FCO in 2015.He was British High Commissioner to Australia until February 2015. Prior to this he was British High Commissioner in Singapore from 2007-2011.

A career diplomat, he was previously Managing Director at UK Trade and Investment (2004-2006), responsible for co-ordinating and
implementing international trade development strategies to support
companies across a wide range of business sectors.

As Assistant Director of Information at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (2003-2004) he was responsible for public diplomacy policy,
including managing the FCO funding of the BBC World Service, the British
Council and the Chevening Scholarships programme. He led the team
responsible for the award-winning UK pavilion at the Aichi Expo in Japan
2005.

He was Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore from 2000-2003 and has
also served in Washington (1996-2000) and Tokyo (1988-92). Between
1992-96 he worked on EU enlargement and Environmental issues at the FCO
in London.

Before joining FCO he worked at the Department of Trade and Industry
(1980-87) on a range of industrial sectors and trade policy, including
two years as a minister’s Private Secretary.

He has an MA in Economic Geography from Cambridge University, an MBA
from Durham University, studied Japanese at London University’s School
of Oriental and African Studies, and is a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society. His first book, Raffles: Lessons in Business
Leadership, was published in 2003.

Married to Sarah, with three children, he was born in 1959, in Devon.

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#Malaria foreign policy Politics Roll Back Malaria. Julie Bishop