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Departmental report

Highlights of the year

The FCO, in the UK and through its network of 260 posts worldwide, was active in lobbying on, influencing and negotiating a huge range of international issues, while providing services to British citizens and business abroad. A selection of the year’s highlights are set out below.

The Global Network

A flexible global network serving the whole of the British Government

  • The FCO’s network of posts worked on behalf of all government departments. We were involved in securing the agreement on the Bali road map on climate change. Posts also played a key role in delivering the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy in countries like Pakistan, and the Government’s migration strategy in Asia, the Americas and Africa.
  • The FCO has started to shift resources (people and money) from Europe to the Middle East, Asia and parts of Africa to reflect the Government’s changing priorities.

Essential services

Support the British economy

  • UKTI, the joint FCO and BERR department, co-ordinated the Prime Minister’s visit to China and India in January 2008, during which a new $60 billion trade target with China and £10 billion worth of future contracts with India were announced.
  • Latest UKTI figures showed that more than 7,500 companies improved their performance as a result of UKTI support, generating around £2.5 billion.
  • UK maintained its position as the number one inward investment destination in Europe through the 1,400 inward investments into the UK.
  • UKTI launched new marketing strategies for four priority sectors (information and communication technology, life sciences, energy technologies and creative industries), which aim to place the UK as the leading international partner of choice in these fields.

Support British nationals abroad

  • The FCO helped nearly 35,000 British nationals in serious distress abroad. In a typical week in Thailand, we dealt with five deaths, one rape, three arrests, one assault, one hospitalisation, one missing person report and 29 lost passports.
  • The FCO sent rapid deployment teams to help British nationals caught up in five crises around the world, including Hurricanes Dean and Felix in the Caribbean and plane crashes in Cameroon and Thailand.
  • Our ‘Know Before You Go’ campaign won a Travel Advertising Industry Award and received two nominations for the European Public Relations Awards.
  • During political unrest in Pakistan and Kenya, our online travel advice and a phone line helped tens of thousands of people to make decisions about their travel plans.
  • The FCO played a key role in passing the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act and hosted a major EU conference on forced marriages.

Support managed migration for Britain

  • In June 2007, the FCO launched Managing Global Migration, the Government’s new international migration strategy with the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA). From 1 April 2008, the BIA will become the UK Border Agency.
  • Our close co-operation with the BIA meant the Government exceeded its target of returning 4,000 foreign prisoners to their countries of origin.
  • The FCO and BIA successfully concluded an agreement with China on the return of Chinese nationals illegally in the UK.
  • The FCO supported 48 projects globally as part of the Migration Fund. In 2007 we reached agreement with BIA and the Department for International Development (DfID) on a new and expanded trilateral Returns and Reintegration Fund for 2008/09.
  • During 2007 the FCO contributed to 62 of BIA’s country of origin reports, which provide a basis for determining asylum claims.
  • A new points-based system started to manage the entry of people who want to work or study in the UK (this system is being rolled out globally in 2008/09).
  • UKvisas, our joint operation with the Home Office, completed the global introduction of biometric data collection, under budget and ahead of schedule.
  • The FCO created a new network of migration officers in key priority countries to deliver the Government’s objective of returning to their country of origin those immigrants who have been convicted of criminal offences and to deliver other objectives.

Policy goals

Counter terrorism, weapons proliferation and their causes

  • Significant additional resources were allocated to countering terrorism and weapons proliferation – a top FCO priority – as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement.
  • A visit by a delegation of British Muslims to Sudan led to an FCO-supported fundraising concert called ‘Muslim Live 8 for Darfur’.
  • The FCO worked intensively to secure the release of BBC reporter Alan Johnston after 114 days of captivity in Gaza, and of the 15 Royal Navy personnel detained in Iran.
  • The FCO successfully negotiated the return to the UK of three former UK residents held at Guantanamo Bay.
  • The FCO worked closely with the other E3+3 countries (UK, France and Germany, plus the USA, Russia and China) and the UN Security Council to agree a further sanctions resolution (UNSCR 1803) on 3 March 2008.
  • The FCO helped make further progress towards an Arms Trade Treaty, with detailed multilateral discussions starting in February 2008.
  • The then Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, set out a renewed vision of a world free from nuclear weapons in a keynote speech in Washington.
  • In 2007 the UK provided £3.25 million worth of funding to more than 20 projects to support multilateral efforts to stop the proliferation and illegal spread of small arms and light weapons.

Prevent and resolve conflict

  • In Burma, Zimbabwe and Kenya, local FCO staff and across the network worked with international partners to provide political solutions to the crises and to avert future conflicts. We have used diplomatic contacts and targeted governance projects to support civil society and promote political reform.
  • In the Middle East, the FCO supported the Annapolis negotiations and tackled Palestinian humanitarian, economic and security issues.
  • In Afghanistan, we nearly doubled the number of our staff working in Kabul and Lashkar Gar. With the team in London (also nearly doubled in size), they continued to play a leading role in the Government’s comprehensive strategy to improve Afghanistan’s capacity to govern itself effectively and to improve reconstruction and development efforts.
  • In Kosovo, the FCO and our staff in the region focused on supporting the international process to resolve Kosovo’s political status, and since the declaration of independence we have continued to work with the UN, EU and NATO to encourage stability in Kosovo and the region.
  • In Iraq, the embassy in Baghdad and consulate in Basra worked with Iraqis to take responsibility for their governance, leading to the UK handing over security responsibility for Basra in December 2007.
  • On Darfur, the UK Mission to the UN led international efforts to adopt UNSCR 1769 which led to the deployment of a joint UN and African Union peacekeeping force. On the ground in Khartoum and in Darfur we have kept up the pressure on all parties for a ceasefire and political solution.

Promote a low carbon, high growth global economy

  • The FCO’s global network has campaigned to raise global awareness of the urgent climate change challenge, and we played a key role at the UN conference in Bali in December 2007, by helping launch detailed negotiations towards a framework to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 2012 onwards.
  • The FCO promoted and secured the first ever UN Security Council debate on the issue. At the G8 summit, our contribution achieved major progress on action to tackle climate change. And it was our activity that prompted the EU towards introducing ambitious climate change and energy goals, and helped launch negotiations on a global climate deal for 2012 onwards.
  • The FCO worked internationally to build support for the Prime Minister’s Millennium Development Goal ‘Call to Action’ initiative, aimed at creating a new partnership that goes beyond governments to end global poverty.
  • The FCO helped reach the agreement to raise the status of the UK–China high-level economic and financial dialogue. This will be led in 2008 by the UK’s Chancellor and the Chinese Vice President.

Develop effective international institutions, in particular the UN and EU

  • The FCO was centrally involved in the negotiation of the Lisbon Treaty and the preparations for its passage through parliament. This Treaty provides the EU with a more stable and lasting institutional framework, which allows nation states to respond effectively to the challenges of globalisation, and to deliver on key issues such as employment, growth, security, the environment and foreign policy.
  • The FCO played a key role in creating a system of scrutiny within the UN Human Rights Council for every UN member.
  • The FCO helped create a new UN special rapporteur to consider modern slavery issues and make sure that a UN General Assembly resolution on the death penalty calling for a worldwide moratorium is adopted.
  • The FCO helped to achieve a more targeted UN budget and to set up a new body to audit the UN, which delivers more effective quality, oversight and value for money.
  • In 2007/08 the FCO funded the involvement of around 300 UK election observers in support of OSCE election observation.
  • At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November 2007, the FCO helped secure mandates on climate change, Millennium Development Goals, human rights and reform of international institutions.
  • The FCO worked to make sure that the Council of Europe remained focused on the promotion and protection of human rights. Conventions dealing with child protection, human trafficking and terrorism came into force.
  • The FCO was at the heart of efforts to make sure that human rights are protected and those guilty of crimes against humanity called to account. In January 2008 the Special Court for Sierra Leone started to hear evidence in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.