1st December 2021
Joint message from Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, FCDO Minister of State and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, and Baroness Goldie, MoD Minister of State for Defence Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) occupies a special place in the hearts and minds of the United Kingdom. As we have often heard in […]
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17th June 2021
Colombo, Sri Lanka
This week, we celebrate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s official birthday. The Queen has reigned for longer than any other Monarch in British history with a Platinum Jubilee (70 years since her Coronation) planned for 2022. Her extraordinary reign has seen her travel more widely than any other monarch – and one third of her […]
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4th March 2021
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Just over a year ago now I relocated to the beautiful Island nation of Sri Lanka from my previous position at the British Consulate in Istanbul. Naturally I was excited by the prospect of relocating to a new country with my family, another adventure for us all. I was equally excited to start my new […]
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19th October 2018
Beirut, Lebanon
As Fayruz says….. bhebak ya lebnan. “Ahla wa sahla saadet el safir” said my welcoming team at the airport – “shoukran, please call me Chris, and do speak to me in Arabic” I said back. That was only 5 weeks ago – it seems much further back. Lebanon has a reputation for outstanding hospitality, stunning […]
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1st August 2016
London, UK
Four years ago tonight I watched in awe as Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony in Stratford launched the start of what would become the most amazing Olympic Games the world had ever seen. London 2012 proved a defining moment for our country. The inevitable pre Games gloom – problems with the M4 corridor from Heathrow into […]
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28th October 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
I attended earlier this month in Bucharest a conference entitled “TTIP: Romania’s Voice”. It was organised by a Romanian member of the European Parliament named Sorin Moisa, and incorporated the outcome of an interesting national consultation exercise sounding out the views of Romanian businesses towards TTIP. It also provided the opportunity to listen to an […]
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11th August 2015
London, UK
The UK has long valued democratic and accountable governance, not least in countries with which we have strong connections. As the Foreign Office and DFID Minister responsible for the UK’s relationship with Africa, one of my key tasks is to pursue this agenda in that continent. Recent scenes of discontent, strife and violence in Burundi […]
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11th August 2015
Delhi, India
British Deputy High Commission Chandigarh organised a roundtable meet on 4th August at Chandigarh with three clearly defined aims: increase visibility of UK excellence in Education, forge new partnerships based on mutual interest increase number of quality applications from Indian universities to UK funding sources The idea to hold this session floated from our experience […]
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5th June 2015
Beirut, Lebanon
Last month, we launched the UK Lebanon Tech Hub. You can see a clip of a drone delivering my speech – for the first and last time, I can suggest that Enrique Iglesias take note. I normally try to write speeches while running. Jogging with bodyguards makes me look like the poor man’s slow Madonna, […]
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12th February 2015
Skopje, North Macedonia
There are some conceptions for educating children that when they are born, they are ‘tabula rasa’. According to this, children are like sponges, they import whatever we teach them as they grow up. Thereto, if children are tabula rasa, our mission is to teach them of everything that is good. To teach them to care […]
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