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Paul Madden

British Ambassador to Japan

Part of UK in Australia

27th October 2014

Big win for South Australia-based British company

The aerospace company Cobham has just been awarded a $640 million contract to provide search and rescue services for the Australian government’s Maritime Safety Authority. Cobham was one of several successful British aerospace and defence businesses I visited in Adelaide last week including British Aerospace, Babcock and Ultra. Defence procurement is a complex business, and my team in Canberra including the Defence Adviser and the Defence and Security Organisation team (part of UK Trade & Investment) work hard to support British companies in this sector.

In a brief but busy visit to South Australia, I called on the newly appointed Governor HE Hieu Van Le and his wife Phuong Lan at Adelaide’s splendid Government House.  Mr Le arrived in Australia in the 1970s as a refugee from Vietnam and had a successful career as a financial services regulator, whilst making an important contribution to community relations. Becoming Governor is a remarkable achievement and a great symbol of Australia’s migration success story.

HE the Honourable Hieu Van Le AO
HE the Honourable Hieu Van Le AO

I also met local politicians and Natasha Stott Despoja, Australia’s Ambassador for Woman and Girls, who had represented Australia at the Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict conference in London in September. And I gave a couple of speeches: to the SA branch of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce (about G20) and to the annual dinner of the Royal Overseas League.

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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