7th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
It’s often said that bureaucrats and businessmen do not mix. But the opposite is true when I hold a reception at the residence to mark the national rollout of “Youth Business Ukraine”. I’m often accused of being too optimistic about Ukraine. Others accuse me of being too pessimistic. But it’s difficult not to be optimistic […]
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6th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Cleveland Indians, the Cleveland Browns, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Buckeyes. That’s just a few of the things associated with Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, home of my in-laws. But manufacturing has also traditionally been a part of Cleveland and Ohio’s landscape too. I was in Cleveland on 31 October and 1 November […]
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6th December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
What would the great Welshman and founder of Donetsk, John Hughes, think of Ukraine today? I was privileged to be invited to Donetsk recently to give the inaugural John Hughes memorial speech. My audience was the Donetsk Chamber of Commerce and the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce. In the speech I paid tribute to John […]
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2nd December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
There are few things which make me happier than to see the ambassador’s residence here in Kyiv packed with British business types. So I was delighted recently when the residence hosted a “British Design Showcase”, bringing together a series of English and Scottish companies specialising in UK-produced textiles, wallpapers, curtain poles, furniture and fabrics. To […]
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1st December 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Which Ukrainian city is famous both as a Cossack stronghold and as the home of one of the Soviet Union’s biggest electrification projects? The answer is of course Zaporizhia, a city of three quarters of a million people on the banks of the Dnieper in eastern Ukraine. Entering the city from the north you drive […]
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30th November 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Guest blog by Matthew Whiteley* ‘Innovation’ is the buzz word that rattling around business receptions, articles and blogs throughout the UK and the US, as it is innovation – ideas that are turned into goods or services for which people are willing to pay – that will keep the UK and the US economically competitive. But […]
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30th November 2011
Ottawa, Canada
There’s a guest video on the blog today – Jonathan Dart, our Consul-General in Toronto and the head of the UK Trade and Industry network in Canada. We’ve being doing a bit of a blitz in the Maritime Provinces. Jonathan’s been at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, talking tidal energy and marine research; and then […]
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31st October 2011
Ottawa, Canada
I remember just 15 years ago, dialling into my internet service provider with the hissing and buzzing of my 14.4 modem, waiting for minutes as pages loaded on Netscape Navigator. I was one of the 16 million users on the internet at the time. How the times have changed. We live in a world where […]
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31st October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Back in November 2009 I wrote an opinion piece in the magazine “Investgazeta” called “The Cafe in Shanghai”. In the article I imagined hard-bitten investors sitting in Shanghai wondering where in the world to invest their money, from China to India to Germany to Bahrain to Brazil to the United Kingdom and elsewhere. I said […]
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5th October 2011
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Last week I was in Ţicleni in Gorj county to look at a major new British investment in Romania’s oil industry. Petrofac is one of the UK’s main suppliers of services in the oil industry, based in Aberdeen in Scotland. As of November 2010 it has taken a responsibility from Petrom for operating and developing […]
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