I am now writing from London, where Britain's ambassadors from all over the world are meeting to address the big international issues on the Foreign Policy agenda. Yesterday those of us posted in the Middle East and North Africa looked at the particular issues facing our region. The Foreign Secretary challenged us to think with "passion and pragmatism", and to aspire to a clear and positive vision for the region's future. The "23 state solution" to the Arab/Israel conflct needs to be at the heart of that. And it remains right at the top of our priorities.
Today we tackled the role of our Embassies around the world in responding to the global economic crisis. The Foreign Secretary again joined in energetically, this time with his full ministerial team as well as French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who injected a different perspective. No one disagreed that the crisis will affect every one of us and that every Embassy has a role to play in building consensus for an effective global response over many months to come.
The theme of the conference is "Bringing Foreign Policy home" and the difference between this and pervious gatherings is that we are talking to a much wider range of people in the UK. Tonight I met with NGO representatives. Tomorrow and Thursday I and my counterparts in Li bya, Algeria and Morocco will together meet academic experts on North Africa, North Africans living in London, and a large gathering of businesspeople with potential interest in the region. I then head to Reading to discuss with a group of young British Muslims their impressions of British Foreign Policy in the Middle East.
Posted at 15:19 25 March 2009 by Christopher O'Connor | Comments[0]
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