UK in Ukraine

19th December 2011

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

How the EU helps Ukraine: an example

Everyone knows that one of the benefits of Ukraine’s potential integration with the EU is that the EU will help Ukraine to adapt the quality of its administration to EU standards.  In other words, the EU will help Ukraine to become a more EU-type country. But how does that work in practice? One of the […]

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15th December 2011

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

British ambassador serves Ukrainian wine

How good does wine have to be to be served at the residence of the British ambassador in Ukraine?  The answer is that taste in wine is a pretty subjective issue; but that I’m always on the look-out for good Ukrainian products and, of course, for value for money.  I’m also keen on promoting good […]

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14th December 2011

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Britain – open for business

Several people have asked me this week what the outcome of last week’s meeting of EU Heads of State and Government, the European Council, means.  I can’t do better than point you towards this excellent blog by my colleague Scott Wightman, British Ambassador in  Seoul. The key point is that the UK’s interests in the […]

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13th December 2011

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Rule of law in Ukraine: when more and more means less and less

‘Surely,’ my Ukrainian interlocutor says, ‘you must accept that Tymoshenko is guilty of something, even if it’s impossible to prove.  Everybody knows it.  Look how many things she is being charged with.’ ‘But without a credible legal process,’ I say, ‘the charges are meaningless.  Adding more and more charges simply makes the legal process look […]

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8th December 2011

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Corporate raiding a serious threat to the Ukrainian economy

The UNIAN news agency interviewed me this week.  In case you have not seen it you can read the full interview here (in English) or here (in Ukrainian).

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7th December 2011

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Ukrainian economy: how to be optimistic

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

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Donetsk, Ukraine and the EU

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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5th December 2011

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

The first mosque in Kyiv

Shortly after I arrived in Ukraine in 2008, the Mufti of Ukraine, Sheikh Akhmed Tamim, invited me to visit him at the site of the proposed new Kyiv mosque, the first in the city.  I was pleased to take up this invitation and had an interesting discussion with him about Islam, and the history of […]

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2nd December 2011

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Top-End British Design in Kyiv

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

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by Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Triumphs and challenges of Communism and Cossacks

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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