Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 3 June 2024.

Mr Gareth Ward has been appointed His Majesty’s Ambassador to Georgia in succession to Mr Mark Clayton.

Mr Gareth Ward has been appointed His Majesty’s Ambassador to Georgia in succession to Mr Mark Clayton. Mr Ward will take up his appointment during August 2024.

Curriculum vitae

Full name: Gareth Edward Ward

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 3 June 2024.

The UK is proud to support the work of authorities across the Pacific who are working to challenge the threat posed by corruption and money laundering.

A three-day conference has commenced in Fiji, with discussions focused on the role that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can play in the fight against corruption across the Pacific.

Bringing together senior officials from across the region’s anti-corruption sector, alongside regional and international experts in the field of digitalization, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office in Fiji is leading the way on efforts to harness new approaches to combatting corruption.

With support from the Government of the United Kingdom, via the UNDP-implemented Pacific Anti-Corruption Project, UNDP Pacific is working across the region to improve public financial management and address corruption. This approach includes using technology to assist in budget preparation, promoting the right to information and accountability, and strengthening anti-corruption institutions and civil society engagement in social transparency.

The pace of technological advancement has been relentless in the 21st Century, transforming the way we live, work, and communicate. From the rapid proliferation of smartphones and the rise of social media to the more-recent emergence of the widespread use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), technology has become an integral part of our daily lives.

However, those yet to be connected remain cut off from the benefits of this new era, and remain further behind – in the Pacific alone, 40 percent of our region’s population remains ‘digitally excluded’. Connectivity, and the need to temper the view of digital as a one-size-fits-all fix will be an essential aspect of the three-day event.

His Excellency Dr. Brian Jones, British High Commissioner to Fiji, in his opening remarks said:

We see all over the world the horrible consequences of money laundering and corruption; it hits the poorest people hardest and compounds harm on the most vulnerable, including women and girls in our communities. Illicit funds are used to enable a whole range of threats, including funding serious organised crime – trafficking of narcotics and cyber attacks. In the Pacific we’re working to increase the flow of climate finance to help mitigate the worst impacts of climate change and the use of mobile money for payments and remittances grows, so too does the risk that these areas can be exploited by criminal actors.

Therefore, we must use this opportunity of our partnership, which the UK is proud to support, to share knowledge, foster new relationships, build integrity and bring together the Pacific family to share regional best practice and experience and build our defences to illicit Finance.

Munkhtuya Altangerel, Resident Representative, UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji, opened the conference and said:

While we must adapt and innovate to keep up with the relentless march of progress, we must also be cautious when it comes to digitalization and technology. The digital revolution offers powerful tools to combat corruption, but these tools alone won’t win the fight. We need strong institutions, empowered citizens, and a commitment from Pacific Island nations to work together, and this conference offers the opportunity to forge a path toward a more transparent and accountable future in the Pacific.

Tackling corruption in the Pacific: Can technology and artificial intelligence facilitate a breakthrough? is supported by the Government of the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union. The three-day conference will conclude on 31 May.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 2 June 2024.

UK statement on adoption of International Health Regulations amendments. Delivered on 1 June 2024 at the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva.

The UK would like to thank the Bureau and Working Group for all their work.

The International Health Regulations are an important technical framework that helps to prevent and protect against the spread of disease.

This set of proposed amendments updates the regulations to reflect lessons learned, including from COVID-19.

Every Member State, including the UK, now has the right under the Regulations to evaluate each and every amendment before making a sovereign choice of whether to accept or opt out of each of – or all of – the amendments.

In the UK, we have a general election on 4th July and we are therefore in a formal pre-election period. It will be for the elected government to make that choice.

The UK recognises the importance of ongoing cooperation including as we continue to discuss a new pandemic accord following the delay agreed this week.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 1 June 2024.

The Most Reverend Justin Welby Archbishop of Canterbury is in Guatemala at the beginning of a 12-day tour to Central America.

The Archbishop will meet Anglican churches, ecumenical communities and religious and political leaders. The British Ambassador, Nick Whittingham, joined him today at a meeting with the President of Guatemala, His Excellency Bernardo Arévalo.

His visit will take him to El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama as well. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury.

The full statement from the Church of England here.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 31 May 2024.

Statement by Fergus Eckersley, UK Political Counsellor, at the Security Council meeting on DPRK.

On Monday, the DPRK launched a military satellite for the fourth time. The launch failed, but make no mistake this remains a flagrant violation of this Council’s resolutions. It also recklessly endangered Japanese civilians; the launch triggered missile warnings in Okinawa and missile debris fell into Japan’s territorial waters.

The next day, the DPRK fired a volley of eighteen short-range ballistic missiles. This again violated multiple resolutions of this Council; the highest number of missiles fired in a single launch yet.

President, the UK once again reiterates that this Council must take action. Such flagrant violations of Council resolutions cannot be ignored, nor can they be explained away by false equivalence with defensive military exercises. Some Council members have argued that our inaction will somehow help the situation, that if anything we need to reduce our scrutiny and pressure on the DPRK’s illegal weapons programme. Well, that approach has categorically failed. They have blocked meaningful action to address the DPRK’s activity and it has simply got worse. Their support for DPRK has not secured compliance with this Council’s resolutions. It has led to more instability in the region and more disruption to the proliferation rules that keep us all safe.

But it goes beyond that, we are particularly disturbed to hear reports that Russian technicians may have assisted the DPRK with its space programme, following the Russian President’s pledge last year to help the DPRK with its space activities.

And we deplore the evidence found by members of the Panel of Experts that Russia is using the DPRK’s missiles in its illegal war in Ukraine.

Deliberately undermining the global non-proliferation regime and this Council’s authority is a risk to all of us.

President, the DPRK is engaged in a long-term programme of military activity, involving massive use of state resources at the expense of its people. We remain deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation in the country, and I encourage the DPRK to reopen its borders and engage with the UN and its agencies.

The United Kingdom calls on the DPRK to refrain from further launches, return to dialogue and abandon their nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.

And we call on all members of this Council to address those threats responsibly and to uphold their commitment to upholding the global non-proliferation regime.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 31 May 2024.

Statement by Ambassador Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on UNAMI.

The UK voted in favour of this resolution which renews UNAMI’s mandate for a final nineteen-month period. The UN Assistance Mission has made an important contribution to Iraq over the past twenty years. Now is the time for a transition to a new partnership between Iraq and the United Nations. We are pleased that this resolution prioritises support to electoral assistance, women’s political participation and human rights during the transition period.

It is also important that the opportunity for progress on Kuwait missing persons is realised during the transition. We look forward to further updates on this, and are ready, if necessary, to consider further options for Council action.

We thank the United States as penholder for their hard work and to all Council members for their constructive approach.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 31 May 2024.

Statements delivered by Simon Manley, the UK’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and UN, on 22nd and 23rd May 2024 at the WTO in Geneva.

Item 2: Report by the Chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee and Report by the Director General and Item 3: Follow-Up to Outcomes of Ministerial Conferences

Congratulations, Chair. Thank you to all our departing colleagues. Welcome, good luck and good fortune to all our new colleagues. Let me first of all welcome all the changes you are making, Chair, to the handling of this General Council. I know your new, marvellous Singaporean bell ring changes within this organisation. In the spirit of trying to focus on that work, I am going to deal with agenda Items 2 and 3 at the same time.

I have three priorities. First of all, on fisheries, we came remarkably close in Abu Dhabi, and it was frustrating that we did not deliver that agreement there and then. But we do need to use every instrument at our disposal, so we do need to make progress. As we saw last night, a fabulous image of what MC14 is going to be like – singing, dancing, great food. We can and should make progress at MC14. We can and should make progress before the summer break. So, let us do the deal on fisheries before the European summer kicks in.

Secondly, E-Commerce. As you say DG, the future of this organisation, the future of global trade, is digital. It is services, it is inclusive, it is green. Let us bring home this agreement on the JI on E-Commerce and gavel an initial deal, both before and after the summer. We need to do everything we can to bring it home in the interests of businesses and consumers across the developing and developed world.

Lastly, IFD, one of the great achievements, if I may say so, of Abu Dhabi; the finalisation of that agreement, by and for and with developing nations. We talk about how this organisation can deliver for the developing world; IFD is a means of doing exactly that. We now need to move from finalisation to incorporation and we need to do it before the summer break.

Thank you very much.

Agenda Item 6: Preserving the Current Practice of Consensus-Based Decision-Making in the WTO. Communication from the ACP Group (WT/GC/W/932) and Agenda Item 7: Responsible Consensus. Communication from Singapore et al. (WT/GC/W/933)

Thank you very much Chair. Let me start by thanking Samoa, Barbados and Members of the African Caribbean and Pacific for bringing these two excellent papers to our attention. It has provoked a real debate here, and the debate, as others have said, is an important one to have. It does spring from some of the frustrations that many of us felt. We came so close in Abu Dhabi to taking some really important decisions. We want to come back and take decisions by the end of July. The number, and passion, of interventions, underlines how important this issue of consensus is to us. Not just in this organisation, but in many international organisations as well. It has served us well, multilaterally. As the EU has said, consensus is not the same as unanimity and I’m afraid that, on too many occasions in this house, those two principals have been conflated, to the detriment to all of us – developed or developing, large or small. While we all have our interests to defend, all have our principals to promote, if we want consensus to survive and flourish, and this organisation to survive and flourish – in the interest of our countries, our businesses, our consumers, our workers – then yes, we need to exercise that principal of consensus in a responsible manner across the work of this organisation. That includes, as the US stated, explaining properly the character of the objections or problems that we may have. It also means listening – active listening. Genuinely listening to the views of every Member of this organisation, but also striving, whatever our interests or principals we may have on a particular issue or dossier, to work towards the common ground. We need to identify what is the outcome that can best deliver for this organisation, consumers, business. And in the case of fisheries, for example, our planet. So let’s try and do that.

Item 8: Reinvigoration of the Work Programme on E-Commerce. Discussion in all mandated WTO bodies, including General Council Dedicated Sessions. Statement by India

I spoke about the importance of digital trade and the Joint Initiative yesterday, but not about the moratorium. We think that the moratorium should be rendered permanent. I wanted to pay tribute to the terrific work that Usha has done on this file. Dispute Settlement’s gain is definitely E-Commerce’s loss. Clearly, we need to find someone equally talented and hard working to pick up on she leaves. This is so important to us all: to our businesses, to our consumers, whether developed or developing. We therefore need a new facilitator, a plan and a timetable (F,P,T).

Thank you very much, Chair.

Item 9: 30 Years of WTO: How Has Development Dimension Progressed? A Way Forward. Communication from India (WT/GC/W/934)  and Item 10: Reflections on Approaches to Development Issues. Communication from China (WT/GC/W/935)

It was great to have this discussion to talk about the importance of trade and development, and development and trade. That is something very much shared by the UK, as set out in our White Paper which includes a quotation from the WTO Director General. We also demonstrated our practical support for Least Developed Countries (LDC) to participate in Ministerial Conferences. There were really positive development outcomes at MC13 that we should be proud of. We were targeted, we were practical, and we were willing to compromise in the interest of ‘responsible consensus’. We delivered on LDC Graduation, on a Sanitary and Phytosanitary / Technical Barriers to Trade declaration on Special and Differential Treatment. We finalised negotiations on a ground-breaking Investment for Facilitation for Development (IFD) agreement. Like others here, we remain disappointed that we did not do even more for developing countries. Whether that be on agriculture, fisheries, or incorporating IFD into the WTO framework. It is a shame that we were so close to consensus on so many of these issues. We could have made a real difference. We can still make a real difference for developing Members. So let us really try our best over the next few weeks to deliver on those unfinished areas of work from MC13. We need to build on those MC13 development outcomes, and deliver on them without losing momentum. We do not need instructions, we need new commitment, new energy to take forward the work. Let us take one step back. Sometimes I hear that we have had no effect as an organisation. I just do not believe that is true. I do not believe that the data shows that. The data shows real advantages through the sort of open trade framework that the WTO has provided over decades for developing countries. It is shown by the eagerness of countries wanting to join this organisation, manifest in those two new accessions in Abu Dhabi. So, let us be proud of what we have achieved, and let us be committed to making sure that this organisation continues to develop the sort of sustainable growth that the developing world and the developed world needs.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 31 May 2024.

UK Statements delivered on 22 and 23 May 2024 at the WTO General Council in Geneva.

Item 5: Moving Agriculture Negotiations Forward. Communication from Brazil (WT/GC/W/931)

The UK appreciates Brazil’s initiative to try and move the agriculture negotiations forward, alongside efforts by the Committee on Agriculture (CoA) Special Session (SS) Chair.

We have also heard concerns raised by some groups of Members that negotiations should be transparent and inclusive; we wanted to say at this point that we fully support it. We also heard disappointment at the outcome from Abu Dhabi. We have all also stressed at the last General Council, and this General Council, the need to now ‘get back to work’. As part of getting back to work we want to stress the importance of taking a holistic approach that recognises the interests of all WTO Members. We also all need to commit to deliver progress by MC14.

We particularly welcome the idea of bringing greater structure to the negotiations in the CoA Special Session. This will support Members to look ahead, prepare, and properly engage capitals. We have heard a lot today that this discussion needs to happen in CoA Special Session but let us be honest: just leaving things to committees, despite our best efforts, does not always get stuff done. CoA-SS has an important role to play and should be where the majority of discussion happens. But we all know this issue needs input from Ambassadors and eventually, Ministers’ input. So, the role of the GC is to help set direction for Committees. In our mind this is not about creating a parallel process but about the GC giving directions, structure and guidance. Ultimately, we really need to move away from discussing process to have deeper, more focused conversations on substance. We are ready to see what is possible at the July General Council, but we should not take discussions on process beyond the summer. Members have said they want to get back to work, and we do not need to start from scratch. We want to get back to work on the substance of proposals. We need to focus on what Members actually want to see by way of agriculture reform, this will allow us to identify possible points of convergence and trade-offs. We welcome news from the Chair and DG this morning on a potential workshop and next CoA-Special Session to retry to keep up the momentum. As others have said, we support all efforts that can help move us forwards.

Item 5: Policy Space for Industrial Development – Advancing WTO Committee Work to Support Structural Transformation and Industrial Development in Developing Countries. Request from the Africa Group

Thank you Chair. We thank the Africa Group for circulating the communication on policy space and advancing WTO committee work. It was helpful to see the structures that are envisaged for this debate. The UK agrees that we need to reinforce the WTO’s role as the forum for deliberation on key global trade challenges and we believe that a conversation on industrial policy and development related issues is needed.

We recognise the challenges that some countries face in fully integrating and taking advantage fully of the multilateral trading system. The UK actively wants to engage in this conversation. We participated in the substantive conversations and discussions on subsidies during Rules Week. We are also closely engaged in conversations on Technology Transfer as seen in our paper on Voluntary Licensing and Technology Transfer. We welcomed the outcome of this in the Abu Dhabi Ministerial Declaration which we worked hard with Egypt and others to get to. But we do also need to recognise that policy space proposals go right to the heart of the multilateral trading system.

The issues highlighted in these proposals are complex and cross-cutting. Discussions need to take place by the right technical experts with sufficient time. We welcome therefore the suggestion of having technical discussions at the Committee on Trade and Development in conjunction with the technical committees. We also welcome the suggestion of using other forms of engagement, including thematic sessions, in addition to committee discussions. The UK is ready to constructively engage with these conversations and we should all come to this debate with open minds, willing to listen to each other, without prejudging solutions.

Item 11: Incorporation of the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement (IFDA) into Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement. Communication from 124 Members Parties to the IFDA (WT/GC/W/927)

DG, you asked us earlier what the next stage is for development. It is this IFD agreement. We have consistently heard evidence on the value of this agreement, including here today. So I am not going to repeat it. But what is clear, is that over three quarters of the membership made a legitimate request to incorporate this agreement under WTO rules. We need to get this done by the summer. In order to do that we need this to be on the July GC agenda for decision and we look forward to getting it done there.