"I'm in no doubt that we have the best diplomatic service in the world. I've seen your professionalism, creativity and energy. A professionalism that's founded on expertise, but also on commitment beyond the call of duty. Thank you for the work that you do, and please keep up your efforts to ensure that Britain has a pioneering and effective foreign policy."
The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, speaking at the FCO Leadership Conference, March 2008
In an ever more inter-connected world, foreign policy is at the heart of the Government’s drive to build a better Britain. As the pages of this report show, the FCO is engaged across the whole range of the Government’s business, to help ensure that our country takes the opportunities, and manages the risks, of globalisation.
To achieve this, it is important to be clear about the profound shifts going on in the way power is dispersed in the modern world. Economic power is moving east to Asia. The spread of democracy, and the power of the internet, is giving non-governmental groups and the citizen new power to participate in shaping policy. And the need for global solutions to the great issues of our time, like climate change, terrorism or inequality, is moving power to a global level.
The United Kingdom (UK) is well placed to benefit from these power shifts. We are an influential member of all the key multilateral bodies starting with the EU and the UN. We have strong bilateral links across the globe. Britain is emerging as a global hub, not just for financial services, but for ideas, for excellence in innovation, and for solutions to global challenges.
The FCO and its worldwide network of posts is a unique national asset. Our diplomats have world-class skills in understanding, and influencing, what is happening abroad. While preserving those strengths, it is crucial that the FCO changes to keep pace with changing circumstances and demands.
This requires clarity on the FCO’s future role and priorities. That’s why, when I took over this job, I set in hand a strategic review to ensure that the FCO was focused on the most important issues on which it could make the most difference.
The results are set out in this Report. After extensive consultations inside and outside Government, I am satisfied that we reached sound conclusions. We now have a more rigorous strategic framework for the FCO’s action in three areas: providing the global network delivering for the whole of Government; service delivery to citizens and business; and four foreign policy goals. We have in the process forged closer partnerships with a number of government departments which will on certain issues be taking the lead on international as well as domestic policy-making.
As a result of careful prioritisation, we are able to commit more resources to our four leading policy goals. The challenge for the FCO now is to show that it can deliver results on these goals, and across the whole strategic framework. For this the FCO needs to become more flexible and more diverse, better reflecting modern Britain. It needs to modernise how it works and where staff are deployed. As this Report shows, far-reaching reform is under way. It needs to be pushed forward vigorously.
I’m confident that the FCO can succeed in this transformation. I’ve been impressed by the quality of staff, both UK civil servants and staff recruited locally by our embassies, and by their dedication and sense of public service. More are now serving in more difficult and dangerous places than ever before. This Report sets out what they achieved over the last year. I offer heartfelt thanks on behalf of the Government, and I believe the country, for what they have done.
The Rt Hon David Miliband MP
The Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs