5th October 2015
New Delhi, India
Food lovers in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru got a bite of some authentic British favourites prepared by Indian celebrity Chef Ajay Chopra at Godrej’s Nature’s Basket (GNB) outlets in their cities. Having spent a good number of years in the UK, Chef Ajay Chopra gets down to doing what he does best – making some […]
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20th February 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Next week promises to be a big week for UK-Turkish trade and investment. Lord Livingston, the British Minister of State for Trade and Investment, will visit Turkey from 22-25 February. The Minister will open a GREAT Technology event; hold formal high-level talks with Trade Minister Zeybekci; meet British investors in Turkey, and Turkish investors in […]
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5th June 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
“The astonishing thing is that UKTI offers such a fantastic set of resources to help companies.” I’m at an export promotion event in the North of England. The speaker is a British exporter who has been working with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) for years. He is keen to persuade other British businesses to do […]
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15th July 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Why does Britain like Turkey? Most of all, it’s because we want to have Turkey as a democratic, stable and prosperous partner. The more democratic, stable and prosperous Turkey becomes, the better for Britain. That’s partly because countries which embrace free markets and foreign investment are good trading partners, and trade makes everyone better-off. It’s […]
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19th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
My recent blog about our South Caucasus and Central Asia regional conference in Istanbul noted the importance of helping British and local businesses to grow across the region. Encouraging this to happen is one reason I was appointed to Istanbul as Consul General and Director-General of Trade and Investment for Turkey, South Caucasus and Central […]
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15th February 2013
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
My recent (cheeringly popular) blog ‘Why is everyone investing in the UK? why aren’t you?’ noted the brilliance of Britain as a top destination for European HQs for businesses from Turkey and elsewhere. One recent example of this is the recent decision by the Turkish Group Florence Nightingale to set up its European HQs in London, in […]
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16th November 2012
London, UK
It was my embarrassment and a Pakistani journalist’s passion for the English Lake District that got me there. I was dressed head to toe in waterproofs, having climbed 500m, and the rain was turning to hail and sleet. The crags in the peaks behind me were being smoothed out by the first snowfalls. In the distance England’s largest […]
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19th October 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, is not noted for its mild climate. In fact it is amongst the world’s coldest capitals, with temperatures regularly below minus 30 in the winter. But at the centre of the city a huge atrium houses dozens of palm trees, surrounded by students and professors going about their business. […]
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16th October 2012
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
It’s after midnight on a Friday and I’m waiting at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport to meet FCO Europe Minister David Lidington off a late flight from London. The airport is packed with people as passengers pour into a city which for over 2,000 years has been a crossroads between Europe and Asia. One of the first […]
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25th September 2012
London, UK
Brand new bed linen from one of the department stores for which London’s Oxford Street is famous. Unwrapping the layers of packaging I noticed the label: made in Pakistan. I wondered if it had come from the factory whose owner I had met in Lahore, where we discussed everything from electricity shortages, to labour law […]
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