Tag: Foreign Office

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 9 March 2023.

Justin Addison (UK Delegation to the OSCE) speaks at an OSCE Economic and Environmental Committee meeting on digitalisation and the labour market.

Mr Chair,

The concept note for this meeting quite rightly highlights the impact of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine on the number of displaced people in Europe. This exodus of talent from Ukraine’s labour market, and the effect on the labour markets of those countries to which Ukrainian migrants have travelled, will have long-lasting implications.

The wanton destruction by Russian forces of critical and civilian infrastructure makes education and training for those in Ukraine more difficult still. Digitalisation may help Ukrainian students and workers safely access training and employment further away from Russian attacks, but in some areas, for those seeking in-person training and employment – and for those roles which can only be done in-person – this will be impossible until Russia withdraws the whole of its forces from Ukraine.

For many young people, the prospects of even remote education are a distant hope, future aspirations crushed by the brutal acts of the Russian invaders. Rather than going to school and preparing themselves for the world of work, children and young people in Ukraine face exploitation, trafficking, filtration, and forced deportation. As UNHCR Assistant Secretary General for Protection said at the PC recently, securing access to education for forcibly displaced persons, including at times of war, is crucial.

For the UK’s part, our £220m support to Ukraine includes £15m to UNICEF in Ukraine to coordinate activities, including education. We are contributing an additional five million pounds to UNICEF Moldova, a package which includes setting up youth centres equipped with laptops and assistive technology to follow education in Ukraine and Moldova.

Looking to Ukraine’s post-war recovery and reconstruction, attention will turn to revitalising the Ukrainian labour market, where digitalisation can play a key role. For example, in the UK, in 2022, the UK Government set up the Digital Skills Council to encourage investment in initiatives focused on upskilling, including digital apprenticeships. And our Skills for Life programme offers free, flexible courses covering, among other areas, software development, digital marketing, and data analytics. These are two examples from which other states may be able to learn.

Finally, the concept note mentions the recent OECD study on the impact of digitalisation on labour markets. We recognise there are a number of benefits to increased automation, with UK companies acknowledging the role of AI in helping them address labour and skills shortages; supporting learning and training; and improving recruitment and HR processes. However, we recognise that these advances will also necessitate an evolution of the key skills and training needed by future workforces across the world.

Before Ukraine is able to take advantage of these new opportunities, we must sustain our efforts to help meet Ukraine’s economic and social needs in 2023. The UK is proud to be hosting – jointly with Ukraine – the Ukraine Recovery Conference in June. We look forward to welcoming you there.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 8 March 2023.

UK Ambassador to the IAEA, Corinne Kitsell, gave a statement on behalf of the UK, France and Germany to the IAEA about Iran’s implementation of its obligations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement.

Chair,

France, Germany, and the United Kingdom thank Director General Grossi for his report on the implementation of safeguards in Iran contained in GOV/2023/9.

We fully support and commend the DG and the Secretariat for their professional, independent and impartial verification of Iran’s safeguards obligations. We also fully support and commend their repeated efforts to engage Iran on information necessary to assess the correctness and completeness of Iran’s declarations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement. The IAEA should continue to evaluate all safeguards-relevant information available, in line with its mandate and standard practice.

We note the Director General’s latest visit to Tehran for senior level discussions. We note that following discussions, and due to the Director General’s relentless efforts to address all outstanding issues with Iran, a Joint Statement was agreed between the IAEA and the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran on 4 March, where Iran agreed to provide further information and access to address these issues.

Chair,

It has been over four years since the Agency sought clarifications from Iran regarding possible undeclared nuclear material at a number of undeclared locations in Iran, including the detection of anthropogenic and isotopically altered nuclear particles at three of these locations. Over this period, there have been numerous interactions between the Agency and Iran, including technical and high level visits to Tehran and several Joint Statements where Iran has committed to cooperating with the IAEA to resolve the outstanding safeguards issues. However, Iran is still to live up to its commitments and the Agency has yet to receive technically credible explanations from Iran, despite multiple requests and ample opportunities to do so.

The Board of Governors has repeatedly underscored its concerns over Iran’s ongoing lack of substantive co-operation with the IAEA and the message to Iran has been clear and unambiguous: it must fully cooperate with the Agency to clarify and resolve all outstanding issues and to fulfil its legal obligations. The Board has adopted three resolutions on this matter, contained in GOV/2020/34, GOV/2022/34, and GOV/2022/70. The most recent of these in November last year decided that it is essential and urgent in order to ensure verification of the non-diversion of nuclear material that Iran act to fulfil its legal obligations and, with a view to clarifying all outstanding safeguards issues, take certain actions without delay.

It is deeply concerning, therefore, that since November, Iran has taken none of the actions requested by the Agency, nor those demanded by the Board, and therefore no progress has been made towards resolving any of the outstanding safeguards issues.

We emphasise again the message from the Agency that unless and until Iran provides technically credible explanations to the Agency’s outstanding questions, the Agency will not be able to confirm the correctness and completeness of Iran’s declarations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement.

Chair,

The E3 are seriously concerned that new safeguards issues related to Iran’s implementation of its NPT Safeguards Agreement have arisen, as captured in the Director General’s latest report.

We note with grave concern the centrifuge configuration changes made by Iran at Fordow without prior notice to the IAEA. It is all the more concerning that the DG’s report indicates that Iran implemented this change immediately following the Agency’s previous inspection at the FFEP earlier the same day. As the IAEA has confirmed in its report of 1 February contained in GOV/INF/2023/1, this is inconsistent with Iran’s obligations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement and undermines the Agency’s ability to implement effective safeguards measures at Iran’s nuclear facilities. We would like to recall that Iran providing a revised DIQ and facilitating an increase in the frequency and intensity of Agency verification activities at FFEP cannot be portrayed as progress in Iranian co-operation. Iran provided a revised DIQ only after it was caught acting in a manner inconsistent with its safeguards agreement by not declaring in advance modifications on certain cascades in Fordow. These Agency verification activities stem from Iran’s obligations under its NPT Safeguards Agreement.

We are even more alarmed by recent sampling at Fordow – which itself was a previously undeclared facility – demonstrating the presence of particles of uranium highly enriched to 83.7%. This is an unprecedented and extremely grave escalation , grossly inconsistent with the level of enrichment declared by Iran at 60%. We remain to be convinced by Iran’s claim that this was due to ‘unintended fluctuations’ and ask the Secretariat for further reporting on explanations for these alarming findings. We call on Iran to comply with all its legally-binding safeguards obligations, to fully cooperate with the Agency’s application of effective safeguards at Fordow and other nuclear facilities, and to provide substantiated, technically credible explanations for the presence of 83.7% particles.

Iran must also clarify, without delay, the new issue, reported by the Agency in its report to this Board, regarding a discrepancy – detected almost a year ago – between the amount of natural uranium from JHL declared by Iran and the amount verified by the Agency. Such discrepancies only add to calls for Iran to improve its co-operation with the Agency in the implementation of safeguards.

Chair,

We fully support the Director General in his efforts to engage Iran in order to clarify all outstanding safeguards issues. We note from the 4 March Joint Statement Iran’s high-level assurances that it is willing to cooperate with the Agency to resolve these issues and to engage in follow-up discussions. Let us recall that it has been a year since Iran made a similar commitment, also in the form of a Joint Statement, which it subsequently failed to uphold. The Board has heard enough promises. After four years, what it needs to see is action. Iran must take the essential and urgent actions set out in GOV/2022/70 and immediately provide the necessary technically credible information and access to locations and materials in order to effectively clarify and resolve outstanding issues without delay.

Further, it is regrettable – yet consistent with its previous behaviour – that Iran delayed inviting the Director General to visit Tehran until the very eve of the Board, despite having had months to schedule such a visit.

Iran’s pattern of behaviour and increasing disregard for its NPT safeguards obligations is deeply concerning, and bringing us closer to the point where the Agency will not be able to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material.

Chair,

We have always been clear that this is a matter of Iran’s legally binding obligation to ensure the verification of the non-diversion of nuclear material under its NPT Safeguards Agreement. There is no political solution to this issue: only Iran can provide the necessary technically credible information to the Agency’s satisfaction. Following the DG’s visit to Tehran, Iran must now seize this final opportunity to provide full and prompt co-operation to the Agency to clarify and resolve all outstanding issues without any possible delay. If Iran fails to implement by the next Board the essential and urgent actions in the November 2022 Resolution, the Board will have to be prepared to take further action, including making a finding, if necessary, on whether the Agency is not able to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material.

Chair,

Lastly, we once again recall that implementation of Modified Code 3.1 is a legal obligation for Iran under the Subsidiary Arrangement to its NPT Safeguards Agreement which cannot be modified, interpreted or stopped unilaterally. We would like to thank the IAEA for it impartial and professional work on this issue. We encourage the Director General to continue reporting to the Board of Governors, and provide earlier updates on these issues as necessary, and welcome making the report contained in GOV/2023/9 public, consistent with long-standing practice.

Thank you, Chair.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 8 March 2023.

In 1938/9, a team led by Thomas Kendrick and George Berry, as well as Reverends Hugh Grimes and Frederick Collard, worked in defiance of their instructions and in danger to their lives to provide travel documents and baptismal certificates for Jews desperate to cross Austria’s borders to safety.

Thank you once again for joining us on this special day, and for bearing with the cold outside. As we reflect on the 85th anniversary of the Anschluss this year and the horrors that followed for Jewish people in Austria, I just wanted to share a little more of the largely forgotten story we are remembering today and which I believe exemplified hope, and faith in life. It’s a remarkable true account illustrating the best of the human spirit at the worst of times. It’s about how a British diplomatic team fuelled by moral bravery and unwillingness to simply standby made an incredible and enduring difference.

From March 1938 onwards, as the British Embassy was downgraded first to a Legation and then Consulate-General under Nazi occupation, a dedicated team of diplomats, consular and church officials converted their horror at the persecution of Jews into decisive action. The passport team led by Thomas Kendrick and then which became 25 strong under George Berry – as well as Reverend Hugh Grimes and then Reverend Frederick Collard of the Anglican Christ Church in Vienna – worked together in defiance of their instructions and in danger to their own lives to provide travel documents and baptismal certificates for Jews desperate to cross Austria’s borders to safety. While Grimes and Collard carried out hundreds of baptisms per day in order to make it easier for Jews to be allowed to leave the country, the diplomatic team worked around the clock to exploit all possible loopholes for issuing travel permits and emergency passports, even going as far as issuing fake documents.

It was a dangerous, awful business, with often chaotic and distressing scenes outside the Church and Embassy buildings, described by a member of staff as “a dreadful, dreadful time”. I have read through a number of our staff records from the time – they talk of the terrible Nazi harassment of those Jewish people queuing outside forced to scrub pavements or wash Nazi vehicles in the pouring rain. The deluge of applicants was huge and those who could not be seen that day were given a numbered and dated ticket for the next. One of my former colleagues talks of pregnant women refusing to leave in the hope their child could be born on British territory; there is an awful account of a young couple who could not be processed that day that left to commit suicide, such was their lack of hope. British staff worked through the day and night and wrote of the nightmares in which they could only see tearful, desperate faces. The “Schuld”, the guilt not to be able to do more, pervaded everything. Every day they heard stories of Jewish sons, daughters, husbands who had been picked up and bundled into trucks and then nothing… It was the hearing nothing that was the worst.” Both Collard and Kendrick were separately interrogated and beaten in the Nazi headquarters at the Hotel Metropole, whilst the Jewish-born verger of Christ Church was imprisoned and sent to Auschwitz where he died.

By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the team had saved thousands of lives; by 1945, thanks to our Foreign Office and Church of England predecessors’ collective efforts, courage and moral stance, tens of thousands of Jewish lives were saved. Until now, many of those British officials’ names were unknown. Some names, for security reasons, will remain unvoiced. But never forgotten. That is why it is a collective plaque today.

We are honoured that so many diplomatic colleagues, survivor families and friends have joined us today. By doing so you honour both the victims and those who worked so hard to help. Thank you again to the Rt Hon Lord Pickles and President Sobotka for presiding over the unveiling on behalf of both the British and Austrian governments. And to Reverend Curran and Chief Rabbi Hofmeister for their prayers and terrific support for today’s event. Our joint efforts to work ever closer together on post holocaust memory and related issues is so central to our strong, values-based relationship today.

For many today, I know it will be an emotional moment. As the granddaughter of a German Kind, no less for me. The celebration of life saved, when so many countless others could not be. An event of collective memory and thanksgiving so appropriately on the Jewish festival day of Purim, which is all about the survival of Jews marked for death in the 5th century, and symbolising triumph over adversity.

Here in the centre of Europe, we today also must bear witness and double our resolve to action against another, modern day genocide. Less than 500 km away, on former Austrian empire soil, millions of Ukrainians daily face Putin’s violent threat to their lives, homes, language, culture and right to sovereign, peaceful existence. Once again, the UK proudly stands firm with our allies for liberty. With a diplomatic service ready to act with integrity and compassion to help bring hope and help in dark times to those most in need.

Thank you.

 

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 8 March 2023.

The Foreign Secretary announces sanctions on International Women’s Day targeting gender-based violence in Iran, Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

• Foreign Secretary announces sanctions on International Women’s Day targeting gender-based violence in Iran, Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic
• it follows the launch of a new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Women and Girls Strategy which sets out plans to tackle gender inequality across the globe
• he is currently on a visit to Sierra Leone where he is meeting women MPs instrumental in passing landmark reforms to support gender equality and women’s empowerment

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has today (8 March) announced a new package of sanctions aimed at human rights violators, particularly those who target women and girls.

This package includes 4 individuals and 1 entity involved in grievous activities, including military figures who have overseen rape and other forms of gender-based violence in conflicts in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. It also sanctions government institutions in Iran responsible for enforcing mandatory dress codes for women in Iran with unreasonable force.

The tough sanctions were announced after the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office earlier launched a new strategy which aims to tackle increasing threats to gender equality, from conflict to humanitarian crises to climate change.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

Promoting gender equality brings freedom, boosts prosperity and trade, and strengthens the security of us all. However, hard-won gains on gender equality are under increasing threat.

These sanctions send a clear message that the perpetrators of abhorrent gender-based violence must be held accountable.

We are increasing our efforts to stand up for women and girls, and will use all the tools at our disposal to tackle the inequalities which remain.

Those sanctioned today are:

• Major General James Nando, who commanded the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence in Tambura County in 2021
• Mahamat Salleh Adoum Kette, in Central Africa Republic (CAR), who has overseen rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence committed by Front Populaire pour la Renaissance de la Centrafrique (FPRC) and Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) fighters
• Amjad Youssef, a member in ‘227 Region Branch’, who has been involved in repressing the civilian population in Syria, including through systematic rape and killing of civilians
• the Headquarters for Enjoining Right and Forbidding Evil in Iran, and its head official Seyyed Mohammed Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani, who have been responsible for the enforcement of mandatory dress codes for women with unreasonable force

The Foreign Secretary is currently in Sierra Leone launching the FCDO’s first Women and Girls Strategy, which puts the rights of women and girls at the heart of everything the department does.

He has been visiting his mother’s hometown of Bo to see how UK-funded projects are helping women and girls. He is today visiting a Special Care Baby Unit at the Bo Government Hospital, where UK support is improving blood banks and equipment, increasing electricity access, supporting patients’ health and safety and saving the lives of pregnant women.

At a secondary school he was able to hear from schoolgirls about their aspirations for the future. The UK is supporting and empowering girls to understand their sexual and reproductive rights.

This afternoon he will meet members of a cross-party group of women MPs in Sierra Leone who have been instrumental in delivering legislation in support of women’s empowerment. Together they have successfully supported the passing of a landmark Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Bill, after over 12 years of advocacy from civil society groups.

Separately, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence, is in New York meeting members of a new international alliance set up by the UK to drive action on preventing sexual violence in conflict, which is convening for the first time today.

He will announce that the UK is committing a further £430,000 to the International Criminal Court’s Trust Fund for Victims. He will be joined virtually by the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, who welcoming the alliance said:

I am grateful to the United Kingdom for the initiative to create the International Alliance to Prevent Sexual Violence in Conflict. We have high hopes for the newly created Alliance. If war crimes are committed somewhere, they are crimes against all of humanity, against human rights, against the rules of international coexistence. It is only together that we can fight for this.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 8 March 2023.

Delivered 7 March 2023, France, Germany and the UK (E3) gave a joint statement to the IAEA Board of Governors on Iran’s implementation of its nuclear commitments under the JCPoA.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 8 March 2023.

Ambassador Neil Bush says that the UK’s commitment to supporting women and girls, including in Ukraine, remains unbreakable.

I would like to thank the Secretary General and the panellists for their interventions. Thank you also to North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for tabling this issue on International Women’s Day – a powerful signal of OSCE support for this vital work.

Chairs, as the Ukrainian speaker has so powerfully set out, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underlined the ongoing importance of today’s topic. Women are often the first responders to conflict. We salute the thousands of women serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces to defend their homeland. Beyond service in the armed forces, Ukrainian women have also been instrumental to the humanitarian, political, and security efforts in the defence of their country.

This includes the collection of evidence to help bring the perpetrators of war crimes to account. The world has watched in horror as overwhelming evidence has emerged of heinous atrocities committed by the Russian Armed Forces against civilians, a large proportion of them women. That is why, in January this year, the UK joined the core group dedicated to achieving accountability for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. And that is why the UK and the Netherlands will co-host justice ministers from around the world, aiming to provide practical assistance to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in support of the investigation into the situation in Ukraine. We will ensure survivors’ needs are at the heart of our accountability efforts by encouraging compliance with the Murad Code in the collection of information and evidence from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

Chairs, last month, our Foreign Secretary and our Minister for the Armed Forces launched the UK’s fifth Women, Peace and Security National Action Plan. Our Plan outlines an ambitious approach to tackling gender inequality in fragile and conflict-affected countries. It outlines how we will continue to deliver for women and girls through the UK’s diplomatic, development and defence work, alongside our global partners.

I wish to highlight two particular elements today:

Firstly, on Ukraine. Due to Russia’s full-scale invasion and the devastating reports of conflict-related sexual violence, Ukraine is now a focus country in our National Action Plan. We will work with Ukraine to support their efforts to champion women’s leadership in peace efforts and ensure survivors of CRSV get the support they need and deserve.

Secondly, the UK is committed to ensuring that we strengthen our own record on WPS – including in our diplomatic, development, security and defence fields. In our National Action Plan, we have committed to increase women’s meaningful participation and leadership in UK defence, foreign and security policy. This includes aiming to increase the percentage of women joining the British armed forces to 30% by 2030. And aiming for gender parity between our senior male and female negotiators.

Chairs, the UK continues to view the OSCE’s annual voluntary report on Women, Peace and Security under the Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security as an important method of sharing information and best practice. As our discussions have demonstrated time and again, this remains an issue where we can all learn from each other. We strongly encourage all States to contribute to this exchange.

I wish to conclude by highlighting again the importance of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. As we know from hard-earned experience, the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in peace efforts leads to better outcomes during and after conflicts. This is a lesson we must never forget. On this International Women’s Day, the UK is proud to say that our commitment to supporting women and girls, including in Ukraine, remains unbreakable.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 8 March 2023.

Emma Logan (UK delegation to the OSCE) says Russia’s deliberate strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure are designed to spread terror amongst civilians.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 8 March 2023.

The High Commissioner discusses Britain’s colonial legacy, and her personal and professional journey in the UK as a woman born in Malaysia.

May I begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Ngunnawal people. I pay my respects to elders past, present and future.

I also acknowledge all of Australia’s First Nations and recognise their place in Australia’s history, indeed in global history, as the oldest living culture in the world. And can I acknowledge all the other beautiful cultures represented here by my ASEAN counterparts, by my Pacific counterparts, by my Five Eyes, European and other counterparts in the room. I’m blessed to have you all with us today, particularly to the women, happy International Women’s Day.

For me, that includes understanding Britain’s own history and colonial past.

Whilst I will talk about Modern Britain, on this International Women’s Day I would also like to touch on my own journey as a British Woman of Asian ancestry – a representative of Modern Multicultural Britain.

Over twenty years ago, Robin Cook our then Foreign Secretary spoke of the reality of Britain in the 21st century.

He reminded us London was established as the capital of a Celtic Britain by Romans from Italy. They were then driven out by Saxons and Angles from Germany.

Richard the Lionheart spoke French and depended on the Jewish community of England to put up the ransom that freed him from prison.

The idea that Britain was a ‘pure’ Anglo-Saxon society before the arrival of communities from the Caribbean, Asia and Africa is fantasy.

But if this view of British identity is false to our past, it is certainly false to our future too.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong recently made headlines for a speech at Kings College in London.

As is often the case with headlines and even today – and I appreciate I’m on dangerous ground by making this point at the National Press Club – some of the nuance was lost.

I agree with Penny Wong. We must frame ourselves for who we are today.  We must not let others constrain us in a past reality.

Just as brevity is the enemy of complexity, the story of modern Britain is distilled by distance.
A postcard of a painting that never was.

To understand modern Britain is to understand that we must project with pride our modern multicultural reality.

Our diversity and the inclusive society we strive for is who we are today.
This is our modern nationhood.

A nationhood that demands equality and fairness – at home and abroad: values we share with Australia.

Last year, the British Council and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade explored this complexity in the landmark “UK / Australia Season.”

Over one thousand British and Australian artists and educators collaborated across the globe to connect us with nuance, beauty and truth.

All seeking to answer the question, Who are we now?

Britain may have influenced the world, but in turn, Modern Britain has been shaped by the world.

We do not forget history but we must learn from it to inform our present and our future, to be a force for good we wish to be.

Next week I celebrate 4 years in my role as the British High Commissioner to Australia and also as the Head of our eight country Oceania Network.

You’ll be pleased to know I have another year to go.

A significant part of my job has been to strengthen our presence across this region, broaden our engagement and elevate our relationship with Australia to one of genuine strategic partnership.

I am reminded in this endeavour of the dilemma faced by the mathematician Abraham Wald during World War Two.

Allied planes returned with significant bullet damage.

The proposed solution was to add armour reinforcement.

But where to add reinforcement that would do the most benefit?

Wald analysed data showing areas where returning planes had sustained bullet damage.

Wald dismissed the intuitive answer, to strengthen parts of the plane that sustained the most damage.

His advice was to reinforce the parts of the returning planes that showed the least damage,

Why reinforce the part of the plane that came back unharmed?

Because the planes that sustained damage to those areas never returned.

Wald identified that sometimes, reinforcement is needed in the least obvious place.

Last year we announced the return of a diplomatic Consul-General for Western Australia, after a gap of nearly twenty years.

In my first year here, we re-established a diplomatic Consul General in Brisbane. With our Consul-Generals based in Sydney and Melbourne, our diplomatic network is restored and re-established covering all Australian states and territories.

The history and ties between Australia and the United Kingdom might suggest less focus is needed in this part of the world.

That is misguided.

There’s a phrase we like to use a lot about the Australia/UK relationship, ‘the best of mates’.
The thing about mates is that you should never take them for granted.

You have to work at it.

That is why our foreign ministers spent two days together with their defence counterparts at AUKMIN last month – to talk, to share, to understand, to challenge and to agree common purpose.

James Cleverly and Penny Wong concluded at the end of AUKMIN we are and remain the best of mates.

True partnership requires renewal and growth and that is what we are doing.

Partnership like our modern dynamic Free Trade Agreement which will transform bilateral trade between our countries.

Or UK accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

We invest in each other – in 2021, we were Australia’s second largest source of foreign investment. In return, the UK is the second-largest destination for Australian investment overseas.

Relationships do not survive, even in your private lives, unless they recognise change and adapt to new dynamics.

If not, we wake up one morning and realise we no longer know each other.  So we are activist about this relationship which matters deeply to us.

Today our Foreign Secretary James Cleverly concludes our new Women and Girl’s Strategy, which he’s launched now, built on the pillars of Rights, Freedom, and Potential. A priorty agenda we share with Australia.

I recently met with a year eleven student, a high achieving young woman of Asian ancestry.

I asked, as I often do of young people, where she hoped to be in thirty years.

‘Prime Minister of Australia,’ she said.

On this International Women’s Day, it’s heartening to recall her say this with a surety that belied not a dream, but a goal to be attained.

It’s an attitude we’ve sought to foster in the UK.

We’ve made great strides in ensuring our Parliament represents the diversity of Britain.

Thirteen percent of our people in the UK are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Today, ten percent of our House of Commons are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Whilst we have made progress, there is still more to do, not least as Penny Wong reminded us, in how we project to the world.

So, let me be clear:

Yes, I represent the Britain of Bronte and Beckham.

But I also represent the Britain of Mary Seacole and James Cleverley, of Riz Ahmed and Rishi Sunak, of Courtney Pine and Kemi Badenoch, and for the literary among you, of Zadie Smith and Hanif Kureishi.

A Britain that addressed its legacy of the slave trade by leading the world in the abolition of slavery, passing the Slave Trade Act in 1807.

A Britain that initiated in more recent time the global campaign against Modern Slavery. The Britain that led the world to COP 26, and through the Glasgow Climate Pact, kept 1.5 alive, particularly important to our Pacific friends.

And just in the last week the Britain at the forefront of efforts to secure the landmark agreement on marine biodiversity at the UN protecting 30% of our oceans by 2030.

We are a Britain that has committed the equivalent of seven billion Australian dollars in support of Ukraine.

A Britain that has offered over two hundred and eighteen thousand Ukrainians a safe haven in our country since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.

A Britain that has offered Hong Kong-Chinese people the opportunity to become citizens in Britain.

And in true British style, we have done so with a minimum of fuss.

We do this because Britain will always stand against aggressors and stand up for freedom and democracy.

And we do it with the will of the British people.

I am proudly British, and I say this as someone born in Malaysia without a drop of English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish blood coursing through my veins.

In ethnic terms I am Eurasian, the daughter of Chinese and Dutch Burgher parents who migrated to Britain with me in tow aged eight because they trusted British values and believed in the opportunity Britain offered my sister and I.

Ten million Britons, like me, are foreign born.

At nineteen, I took an entry level role as a clerk in the Foreign Office in London.

On my first day I had the common experience of many migrants at that time, the inevitable ‘Yes, but where are you really from?’ conversation.

My first boss on greeting me was bemused, he said:
‘I don’t understand how you hope to be a member of Her Majesty’s diplomatic service.’
I told him, I am a legacy of Empire, and you reap what you sow.

This was nineteen seventy-nine. A year later and perhaps I could have referenced a popular film release: The Empire strikes back.

Over my career I have seen not just the ongoing change in my own organisation whether in terms of ethnic diversity or gender or other difference.

When I looked up the ladder then on that first day, there was no one like me never mind senior women.

Today women head our missions in Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Moscow, Paris, Berlin, Washington, Wellington, Ottawa and at the UN.

I was proud to make history and become the first female career diplomat of colour to become a High Commissioner when I went to New Zealand.

I have seen my country transform too. A yet more inclusive society where whoever you are and wherever your family came from you can rise and achieve the highest office.

I’m not sure we have an equivalent idiom of our American friends and their ‘American dream’.
If we did, I’d say I’m proud of the ‘British reality’.

A reality where we have a Hindu prime minister of Indian heritage, a foreign secretary of Sierra Leone heritage, and, yes, where the daughter of immigrants can start at the lowest level of the civil service and become the British High Commissioner to Australia.

Next Monday is Commonwealth Day. This is the first since the nations of Gabon and Togo were admitted.

Neither country has a colonial history with Britain, but their desire to join the family of nations that is The Commonwealth highlights the appeal of the Commonwealth ethos outlined by Queen Elizabeth:
“The Commonwealth is built on the highest qualities: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace.”

It is why Prime Minister Fiame of Samoa travelled to Kigali last year for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, to bring the Commonwealth to the Pacific in 2024 when Samoa will host CHOGM.

INDO-PACIFIC

As someone from this region, and through my postings across the Indo-Pacific, including a return to the country of my birth as British High Commissioner to Malaysia, I have a cultural awareness and understanding of this region.

I believe this contributes to our understanding and the shape of our work in the advice I provide to my government.

My time in this role has overlapped with a period of significant change for Britain and the world.

Our departure from the European Union meant Britain had to reassess its place in the world against the shifting currents of our geo-strategic reality.

Our Integrated Review published in 2021 set out our plan.

It made clear we are – by geography – a Euro-Atlantic nation and the defence of Europe – our near neighbourhood – would always be a priority.

Our commitment to NATO endures, and I acknowledge my friend and colleague Betty Pavelich, the Croatian Ambassador who is the NATO representative here in Canberra.

As does our commitment to Ukraine to regain their sovereignty.

But the Integrated Review also pointed to the importance of the Indo-Pacific and the need for us to engage in this region further.

In recognition of ASEAN centrality we have become an ASEAN Dialogue Partner. We want to work with ASEAN for their goals and aims as they are indeed ours.

In recognition of our Pacific friends at the frontline of Climate impacts, we will use our covening power as we did in Glasgow to give them a global voice.

Over the past four years the UK has doubled our presence across the Pacific Island Countries.

We now have High Commissioners in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.

Just as it is my privilege to represent my country in Australia, our missions across the Pacific are privileged to learn from and support our Pacific friends.

The creation of our new Pacific Development Unit headed by our former High Commissioner to Vanuatu, here with us today, further underlines our commitment.

We have established a strong network coupled with strategic oversight from those who understand the importance of the Pacific and have lived and worked in the region.

This is a point of partnership, and of pragmatism. Not words on paper, but people on the ground.

As our Foreign Secretary has said, Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific economies and security are indivisible.

Sixty percent of global shipping passes through this region.

Security and stability here affects us all.

And the UK has always been a seafaring nation.

Our ships HMS Tamar and HMS Spey represent our intention to maintain a permanent presence in the Indo Pacific.

Last year, HMS Spey assisted the humanitarian response to the Tonga volcanic eruption.

In the last week, thanks to our partnership with Australia, the UK delivered shelter kits to the Government of Vanuatu, to support their recovery effort after cyclones Judy and Kevin wreaked havoc.

These climate impacts is why at COP 26 in Glasgow we announced £274 million for a new programme to improve climate resilience across the Indo-Pacific.

Whether battling slave traders in history, providing natural disaster relief today, or being alert to those who threaten a free and open Indo-Pacific, Britain will always support democracy and freedom worldwide.

AUKUS

This is why we have committed to AUKUS, the tri-lateral security and defence partnership between the UK, Australia, and the United States.

The drumbeat of reporting and rumours about Pillar 1 will soon reach a crescendo.

The optimal pathway is coming, and journalists in the room wouldn’t be journalists if they don’t use the post speech Q&A to inveigle me for new information. It is a futile attempt.

In an effort to pre-empt this, let me say all will be known soon, and I cannot, today, speak to specifics.

What I can say it this:

Our historic AUKUS agreement reflects the unique trust between the UK, US and Australia.

It reflects our shared values, and our joint commitment to the peace and security of the Indo-Pacific.

In the face of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, it perhaps would have been understandable for the UK to pull focus.

Instead, we have doubled down on our commitment to the Indo-Pacific.

Our unwavering support for Ukraine has happened in parallel with the strengthening of our presence and engagement in the Pacific.

These are not separate issues, these are sides of the same coin.

We recognise China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests. We also recognise these views may not be shared by others.

Of course, we also recognise China’s significance in world affairs.

So diplomacy and engagement has never been more important.

Let me also use a sporting analogy because we know you Aussies love your sports.

A fair competition can only exist within a fair framework respected by all players.

Competition between nations is healthy, coercion is not. We will uphold the international rules based system, including modernising and reinforcing it in the light of experience and new global challenges like Climate Change.

We will support Australia and our allies across the Indo-Pacific, and anywhere the rules based international order is threatened.

This is the Modern Britain that has been shaped by the world.

This is the Global Britain that understands the legacy and responsibility of empire.

This is My Britain.

If you’ll indulge me further, I’ll end with an Emily Bronte poem:

I’m happiest now when most away
I can tear my soul from its mould of clay,
On a windy night when the moon is bright,
And my eye can wander through worlds of light.

When I am not, and none beside,
Nor earth, nor sea, nor cloudless sky,
But only spirit wandering wide
Through infinite immensity.

This poem has special resonance for me, as it may for many diplomatic colleagues with us today.

For me, whilst written in a different place and time, it speaks to this beautiful land and the spirit of its first nation’s people, wandering wide through the infinite immensity of time and space on this land called Australia today.

Like Bronte, I am happiest when most away, representing my nation in yours, and I thank you for the privilege.

Thank-you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 8 March 2023.

Women and girls will be at heart of UK’s international work as Foreign Secretary launches new strategy to tackle gender inequality around the world.

• Foreign Secretary James Cleverly launches new Women and Girls Strategy during a visit to his mother’s hometown in Sierra Leone
• strategy aims to tackle increasing threats to gender equality from climate change, humanitarian crises, conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, and recent attempts to roll back women’s rights, including in countries like Iran and Afghanistan
• the Foreign Secretary also announces a new emphasis on supporting grassroots women’s rights organisations, and funding for a Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights programme that will support an estimated 10 million women

Women and girls will be put at the heart of the UK’s international work, with a new strategy that will tackle gender inequality across the globe.

Launching on International Women’s Day, the new strategy will set out how the UK will work to tackle global gender inequality at every opportunity, including combatting attempts to roll back women’s rights, and work with partners around the world to do the same. For the first time, this strategy commits the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to more than 80% of its bilateral aid programmes including a focus on gender equality by 2030.

Progress towards gender equality is increasingly under threat. Climate change and humanitarian crises continue to disproportionately affect women and girls, there are attempts to row back on women’s rights including in countries like Iran and Afghanistan, sexual violence is happening in conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere and violence against women is growing online.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

Advancing gender equality and challenging discrimination is obviously the right thing to do, but it also brings freedom, boosts prosperity and trade, and strengthens security – it is the fundamental building block of all healthy democracies.

Our investment to date has improved lives around the world, with more girls in school, fewer forced into early marriage and more women in top political and leadership roles.

But these hard-won gains are now under increasing threat. We’re ramping up our work to tackle the inequalities which remain, at every opportunity.

The Foreign Secretary will launch the new strategy in Sierra Leone, where he is visiting a school and a hospital in his mother’s hometown of Bo, to see how UK-funded projects are having a positive impact on women and girls.

In the hospital, he will see how UK support is improving blood banks and equipment, increasing electricity access and saving the lives of pregnant women. In the school he will hear about girls’ aspirations for the future. The UK is supporting students there to talk about preventing violence.

The strategy puts a continued focus on educating girls, empowering women and girls, championing their health and rights and ending gender-based violence – the challenges the UK believes are most acute.

It commits the FCDO to involving its entire network of high commissions and embassies around the world to deliver the strategy. This will include UK heads of mission developing plans and commitments specific to their host country and raising the most pressing issues with their host governments. The UK will also develop an ambitious new research offer to help the UK and its partners make investment decisions.

Alongside the strategy, the Foreign Secretary will announce a new women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights programme, focused on sub-Saharan Africa, which has some of the highest rates of child marriage and maternal mortality in the world.

Reaching up to 10.4 million women, the programme will receive up to £200 million and is expected to prevent up to 30,600 maternal deaths, 3.4 million unsafe abortions and 9.5 million unintended pregnancies.

Separately, the UK is also increasing support for women’s rights organisations and movements, recognising their critical role in advancing gender equality and protecting rights, and amplifying grassroots women’s and girls’ voices. Most of this £38 million programme will be delivered through a new partnership with the Equality Fund.

Jess Tomlin, co-CEO of the Equality Fund said:

We’re really excited about this partnership because it shows that every sector can come together – with boldness and urgency – to deliver resources to women’s rights organisations everywhere. A just, sustainable, thriving future depends on the solutions of feminist movements, and it’s time for all of us to trust and robustly resource their leadership at scale all across the world.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 7 March 2023.

The Minister for the Americas reinforced the shared commitment of the UK and Paraguay to strengthen ties after marking 170 years of bilateral relations.

The British Embassy in Asunción received the visit of MP David Rutley, the Parliament Under Secretary of State for the Americas and the Caribbean on 2 to 3 March 2023. The visit occurred on the 170-anniversary of relations between the 2 countries, almost to the day. Among his visit priorities were climate change, business, energy and education.

The visit began with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Finance. This MoU will allow for continued support to the Chevening scholarship programme, a key pillar of collaboration in education between Paraguay and the UK.

Minister Rutley also held meetings with the business sector, civil society and with presidential and vice presidential candidates for the general elections in April 2023. A highlight of his visit was a tour of the Itaipú hydroelectric dam and technological park, during which he learned more about Itaipú’s provision for the future use of its clean energy production, including its great potential in green hydrogen and ammonia.

As part of the visit, Minister Rutley also participated in the signing of an MoU with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for increased bilateral exchange. During the signing, participants could appreciate the original 1853 Treaty on Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between UK and Paraguay.

The visit concluded with a commemoration event at the Asunción Train Station, a joint event with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The train station is a symbol of historical bilateral relations between Paraguay and the UK. During the event, Paraguay’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Julio Arriola and Minister Rutley unveiled a commemorative plaque. The minister was also able to enjoy some traditional Paraguayan music, dance and food.

Minister for the Americas David Rutley said:

Paraguay is a natural ally to the UK in values, education and climate change. A clean-energy powerhouse, it shows potential to become a major player in green hydrogen.

I look forward to continued UK investment in Paraguay, and to increase trade both ways.