Diplomatic excellence in the Foreign Office

The Foreign Office’s annual gathering of heads of mission, called the FCO Leadership Conference, will be dedicated this year to diplomatic excellence.

I am privileged to attend this key event in May and to have a first-hand account of what the Foreign Secretary, top British diplomats from missions all across the world, and other colleagues think about and do to deliver on this topic. It will also be a wonderful opportunity to meet with many British friends, some who have served as diplomats at the Embassy in Bucharest, and others at the Foreign Office in London. Not least, I will be visiting yet again sites that I enjoy greatly, including the British Museum and St. James’s Park.

Together with the ambassador, I will deliver a presentation on what we have been doing to promote the London 2012 Olympics in Romania. Most of the work to date has in fact been superbly carried out by my colleagues in the Communications team, Roxana and Andreea, who ran the “Urban ID” competition for young architects. I also hope to have the opportunity to present our internship programme and inspire colleagues from other embassies to adopt it. And who knows what else will come out of the hat?

It will be a week full of great expectations, learning and development – so let the countdown begin!