The multi-faceted life of an Ambassador

It has been a busy time for both me and the wider Embassy team. A recent Tuesday found me trying not to confuse the financing of energy investment in Poland with a trilateral Afghan, Polish, British roundtable on progress and next steps in Afghanistan. Both are really important.

Poland and the UK both need to invest huge sums to upgrade our energy infrastructure to ensure energy security and meet our low carbon obligations. We both see civil nuclear and shale gas as part of our energy mix in future, although nuclear will be bigger for us and shale for Poland. Our nuclear expertise is second to none and independent since we do not sell reactors.

We are therefore working closely together. At the energy investment seminar in Warsaw, last week I highlighted our new financing mechanisms like contracts for difference to give investors the confidence to invest in the UK and our capacity market, which provides an insurance policy against blackouts by ensuring we have the capacity to meet demand.

The challenges ahead are huge. But so are the opportunities. Who would have predicted a decade ago that shale gas would reduce US gas prices so dramatically that the US is now considering the export of LNG from terminals designed as import hubs?

Ensuring a sustainable future for Afghanistan is equally important. Peace and stability in that historically troubled country and the wider region has a direct impact on British and Polish citizens in today’s increasingly globalised world – a reminder of the importance of international missions conducted by NATO in supporting our security.

We also talked about the reality that Afghanistan has come on a long way despite some of the headlines. Children, especially girls, enjoy better access to education. The majority of the population has better access to health care. Women play a greater role in politics and economic life.

The Afghan economy has improved too and has big reserves of natural resources. Two in three Afghans now own a mobile phone: some two or three. So the sacrifices of brave Polish and British soldiers have certainly not been in vain.

Happily I did not mix up the different events.

Have a very happy Easter.