Tag: uk

6th June 2022 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Russia’s war in words and numbers

What is happening in Ukraine can be no less shocking to people in Serbia than to people in Canada, Norway, Poland, the UK – or anywhere else including Russia, when and where the truth is known. Deliberate disinformation has been rife and multifaceted – from mundane lies (no intention of invading Ukraine) to fantasy fiction […]

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7th September 2021 Skopje, North Macedonia

Rachel Galloway

Rachel Galloway

Her Majesty's Ambassador

Celebrating 30 years of Independence! Friendship, partnership and cooperation – our UK and North Macedonia story

Working and living in North Macedonia is a real privilege. I am struck regularly by the warmth of the people, the taste of the food and the wine and the beauty of the landscapes. I have had the privilege to meet people across the country. To see the heritage of the country from Bigorski monastery […]

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22nd March 2021

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by Matt Field

British Diplomat

Partners

Ambassador Matt Field and General Masovic looking at a UK donation to BiH Armed Forces

No country in the modern world can alone face the many security challenges of today – from climate change to pandemics, transnational crime to cyber-attacks. We all need partners and friends. We all need the chance to improve ourselves through cooperation. That’s what a relationship with NATO offers. And the nature of that relationship is […]

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2nd March 2021 London, UK

Gill Bennett

by Gill Bennett

FCDO Historian

Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev: a view from the Foreign Office archives

Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher

Marking the 90th birthday of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Gill Bennett recalls how the late Tony Bishop, FCO Russian specialist, recorded Gorbachev’s first talks with Margaret Thatcher, when he acted as interpreter. ‘For heaven’s sake, try and find me a young Russian!’ This, according to Tony Bishop, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) principal […]

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22nd January 2021 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Counting COVID

Online Diplomat 13

This is the first blogcast I have recorded for several weeks. This is mainly because I had to travel to the UK for family reasons – a journey that was a story in itself. But there is another reason too. I have been spending my evenings doing an online training course. Diplomacy is a career […]

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27th November 2020 Belgrade, Serbia

Sian MacLeod

by Sian MacLeod

Former UK Ambassador to Serbia

Bad Air Days and Silver Linings

The global skies have been pretty dark metaphorically over past months.  They have been pretty gloomy too here literally for much of the time. I’m lucky enough to look out of my window in Belgrade at trees and sky. Sadly though that view is often rather murky, with visibility limited to the great oak trees at the end of my […]

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30th September 2020 Skopje, North Macedonia

Rachel Galloway

Rachel Galloway

Her Majesty's Ambassador to North Macedonia

A hidden gem in the Pelagonia region

Two years into my posting as British Ambassador to North Macedonia, September was my first month working for the recently merged Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the whole team coming back fully into the Embassy and adapting to the “new normal”. With my Embassy team, we have been working remotely and in groups from the […]

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25th July 2020

Miriam Escofet

Painting Her Majesty

Miriam Escofet with her portrait of HM The Queen

Image ©Aliona Adrianova During my first meeting with Foreign Office Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Simon McDonald in March 2019, when we discussed ideas for the portrait of The Queen that he wanted to commission, I was delighted to hear that he wanted it to feel intimate. He wanted to express Her Majesty’s humanity, rather than creating […]

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