23rd December 2015 Beijing, China
As I sit in the office feeling festive, I’m wondering how SIN China’s highlights this year would be represented, if they were numbers in the “12 Days of Christmas” song. This might not be a normal activity, but here is my attempt…. 1 Golden Era 2 hundred of China’s regulators trained in cosmetics product safety […]
15th December 2015 Beijing, China
I am always struck, when I attend one of the many workshops that we fund, by the immense value of getting the right people in a room together. Whoever they may be, when you put some Chinese experts on something in a room with some British experts on something, the magic starts to happen. Let […]
14th December 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
Occasionally you come across a fact that changes how you think. One such moment for me was when I discovered how the world had managed to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty and hunger between 1990 and 2015. It turns out that we met it five years early, meaning that nearly 1 […]
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6th November 2015
Two weeks ago all UK eyes were on China’s State visit to the UK. But the Chinese weren’t the only ones in town building commercial ties. It was also a week for Ethiopia in London, with a number of events where Ethiopia showcased their recent economic success and future potential. I joined Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister […]
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29th October 2015 Beijing, China
What better way to kick off our new SIN China blog than with a look at Xi Jinping’s high profile State Visit to the UK last week. Science and Innovation was a key element. In addition to Royals, carriages and banquets, Xi visited Imperial College and the National Graphene Institute at Manchester University. The UK and […]
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5th October 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
I’ve just spent the weekend at the Milan Expo. Over a hundred countries showcasing themselves in a tradition of world fairs that stretches back to the nineteenth century and the “first World Expo” at Crystal Palace in 1851. The most expensive pavilion was the UAE extravaganza, coming in at allegedly just shy of £100 million. […]
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16th September 2015 Geneva, Switzerland
I hope you had a good break. Those wise enough to spend their holidays in or around these parts will be coming back to the Council re-energised from the unusually long hot summer we’ve had this year. To my family’s bemusement, I opted to spend our holidays caravanning in the slightly more inclement weather which […]
25th April 2014 Washington DC, USA
One of the hardest things I have to do is explain my job. I work on Asia at the British Embassy in Washington DC, and “why?” is the most common question. And, particularly from Americans, “But the UK isn’t a Pacific nation, you haven’t got any skin in the game.” But the simple answer is […]
3rd March 2014 Warsaw, Poland
Poland – A GREAT Business Opportunity – the Minister came to see for himself….and he brought 70 companies with him… And more to the point he met 200 more while he was here. I’ve been living and working in Central Europe for 20 years this year and this is the biggest ever show of British […]
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30th September 2013 Geneva, Switzerland
Council sessions are bad for your health. So bad, in fact, that I’m thinking of inviting colleagues from the World Health Organisation along to the next session to see if they agree with me that all delegates should be issued with a health warning so that they can take suitable precautions at the outset. The […]
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