DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATION
Letter to the Parliamentary Relations
and Devolution Team, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, from the
Clerk of the Committee, 21 December 2004
At its meeting today, the Committee considered
the Written Ministerial Statement by the Secretary of State on
diplomatic representation.
The Committee wishes to receive answers to the
following questions:
1. In respect of each location at which a
UK Post is to be closed, what representation is maintained by
each of the G8 countries and by China?
2. What information does the FCO have on
the number of diplomatic Posts which are operated jointly by France
and Germany?
I would be grateful for a response not later
than 10 January, if possible.
Steve Priestley
Clerk of the Committee
21 December 2004
Letter to the Clerk of the Committee from
the Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Team, Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, 17 January 2005
DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATION
Thank you for you letter of 21 December asking
further questions about the Foreign Secretary's written ministerial
statement on diplomatic representation.
The answers to your questions are as follows:
1. In respect of each location at which
a UK Post is to be closed, what representation is maintained by
each of the G8 countries and by China?
Other than the UK, representation in the locations
where we are closing sovereign and subordinate posts is set out
in the annex attached.
2. What information does the FCO have on
the number of diplomatic Posts which are operated jointly by France
and Germany?
There are no joint Franco-German embassies.
German and French embassies share premises in the following 4
locations: Malawi (Lilongwe), Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina),
Podgorica (Serbia and Montenegro), and Almaty (Kazakhstan) (jointly
with the UK). (Following the move of the capital from Almaty to
Astana, options for future arrangements are under review.)
Chris Stanton
Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Team
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
17 January 2005
Annex 1
G8 AND CHINA—REPRESENTATION
IN LOCATIONS
WHERE THE
UK IS CLOSING
A POST
Sovereign Posts
Lesotho (Maseru)
| Embassies: US and China |
Madagascar (Antananarivo) | Embassies: US, China, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Russia
Honorary Consul: Canada.
|
Swaziland (Mbabane) | Embassy: US
Honorary Consul: Italy
German Liaison Officer (akin to a Locally Engaged presence)
|
Tonga (Nuku'alofa) | Embassy: China
Honorary Consul: France, Japanese JICA (DFID equivalent)
|
Vanuatu (Port Vila) | Embassies: France, China
Honorary Consul: US
|
Kiribati (Tarawa)
(currently locally engaged)
| No representation by G8 or China |
East Timor (Dili) | Embassies: China, US, Japan, French Co-operation Office
|
Bahamas (Nassau) | Embassies: US, China
Honorary Consuls: France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan
|
Asuncion (Paraguay) | Embassies: Japan, Germany, Italy, US, France, China
Honorary Consuls: Canada, Russia
|
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Subordinate Posts
Frankfurt (Germany) | Consulates General: France, Italy, Japan, US
|
Stuttgart (Germany) | Consulates General: France, Italy
Honorary Consuls: Canada, Japan
|
Leipzig (Germany) | Consulates General: Italy, US, Russia
Honorary Consul: France
|
Douala (Cameroon) | Consul General: France
Consul: China
Honorary Consuls: Canada, Italy
Embassy Branch Office: US
|
Dallas (US) | Consulate General: Canada
|
Phoenix (US) | Consulate: Canada
Trade Office: Chinese Region of Chengdu
|
San Juan (Puerto Rico) | Trade Office: China
Honorary Consuls: All other G8 countries (except US)
|
Oporto (Portugal) | Consulates General: France, Germany
|
Vientlane (Laos) | Embassies: Germany, France, Russia, Japan, US, China
|
Fukuoka (Japan) | Consulate General: China
Consulates: US, Canada
Trade Office: France
Honorary Consuls: Germany, Italy
|
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Letter to Dominique McCluskey, President, Franco-British
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, from the Clerk of the Committee,
21 December 2004
The Foreign Affairs Committee has asked me to write to you,
following the Written Ministerial Statement by the Secretary of
State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on diplomatic representation,
in which it was announced that by the end of 2006 the posts in
Bordeaux and Lyon will no longer be staffed by UK-based personnel.
The Committee would be grateful to receive your views on
the likely impact of this change on the operations of your members
in France, and any other comments or observations you care to
make.
If you have any queries, do let me know and I will do my
best to answer them.
Steve Priestley
Clerk of the Committee
21 December 2004
Letter to the Clerk of the Committee from Mr Michel
de Fabiani, President, Franco-British Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, 14 February 2005
In reply to your letter of 21 December 2004, we are pleased
to advise you that Her Majesty's British Embassy in Paris has
already informed us of certain changes due to take place in the
British Consulates-General of Bordeaux and Lyon which you mentioned
in your letter.
We are further given to understand that the Trade teams in
these regions will remain in place and this would, in our opinion,
seem most satisfactory.
As far as the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce & Industry
is concerned, no significant impact is therefore foreseen, resulting
from these intended changes in the diplomatic representations
in Bordeaux and Lyon as mentioned above.
Mr Michel de Fabiani
President
Franco-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry
14 February 2005
Letter to Mr U Hoppe, Director, German-British Chamber
of Industry and Commerce, from the Clerk of the Committee, 21
December 2004
The Foreign Affairs Committee has asked me to write to you,
following the Written Ministerial Statement by the Secretary of
State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on diplomatic representation,
in which it was announced that by the end of 2006 the posts in
Munich and Hamburg will no longer be staffed by UK-based personnel,
while those in Frankfurt, Leipzig and Stuttgart will close completely.
The Committee would be grateful to receive your views on
the likely impact of these changes on the operations of your members
in Germany, and any other comments or observations you care to
make.
If you have any queries, do let me know and I will do my
best to answer them.
Steve Priestley
Clerk of the Committee
21 December 2004
Letter to Mr Richard Fursland, Chief Executive Officer,
British-American Business Council, from the Clerk of the Committee,
21 December 2004
The Foreign Affairs Committee has asked me to write to you,
following the Written Ministerial Statement by the Secretary of
State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on diplomatic representation,
in which it was announced that by the end of 2006 the posts in
Seattle and Miami will no longer be staffed by UK-based personnel,
while those in Phoenix, Dallas and San Juan will close completely.
The Committee would be grateful to receive your views on
the likely impact of these changes on the operations of your members
in the United States, and any other comments or observations you
care to make.
If you have any queries, do let me know and I will do my
best to answer them.
Steve Priestley
Clerk of the Committee
21 December 2005
Letter to the Clerk of the Committee from Mr Richard
Fursland, British-American Business Council, 14 January 2005
Thank you for your letter of 21 December (just received here)
asking for our views on the announcements in the Foreign and Commonwealth
Secretary's recent statement relating to changes in the UK's representation
in the United States.
As an organisation dedicated to the promotion of UK-US business,
we naturally regret any reduction in the UK's commercial representation
in the United States. In particular, our chapters in the regions
where offices are to be closed or reduced, and our member companies
who do business in these regions, will regret these measures.
At the same time, we recognise that these decisions reflect
a reduction (which we also regret) in the resources being made
available for the promotion of British commercial interests in
the United States.
We are aware that these changes represent one part of a broader
reorganisation of HMG's commercial representation and activities
in the United States, and that serious thought went into this
process. However, we are not aware of the factors that prompted
these particular decisions to be made, or in a position to make
a cost-benefit analysis of these and other potential cost-saving
measures.
We are also more concerned to make the best of the outcome
than to question decisions already taken.
We would therefore encourage HMG to make a special effort
to use its resources and other posts in the United States to maintain
an effective "presence" in the five business centres
affected by these changes as well as effective relationships with
our chapters and members there (eg through a regular program of
visits, including meetings with our chapters and their members,
by senior-level government representatives); and so to ensure
that our members that conduct—or seek to conduct—business
in these regions do not experience any negative impact on their
business as a result of these decisions.
We look forward to working with HMG and its representatives
in the United States to promote this shared objective. In relation
to the broader reorganisation of HMG's commercial representation
in the United States, we also look forward to working closely
together—through our presence on the ground in more than
20 US business centres—to maximise our collective effort
to promote UK-US business.
I hope you find this response helpful and constructive.
Richard Fursland
Chief Operating Officer
British-American Business Council
14 January 2005
Letter to the Chairman of the Committee from the Permanent
Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 4 March
2005
Thank you for your phone call last week. You raised your
concerns about the level of staffing in Algiers. I undertook to
make some enquiries and write to you with my findings.
First, I should emphasise that the post of Ambassador to
Algeria is not vacant. Brian Stewart, the present incumbent, has
been working in Algeria since spring 2004. He was absent from
Post during your visit on a pre-arranged decompression break.
You will be aware from your trip that all UK staff are currently
entitled to decompression breaks so, even when the Embassy is
fully staffed, it is normal for members of the UK based staff
to be absent from Post.
The current level of staffing reflects recent history in
Algeria. The size of the Embassy was scaled back during the 1990s
as violence worsened in Algiers. Now that the situation is more
stable, we have gradually increased the level of staffing and
will continue to do so throughout 2005. A resident Defence Attache
will arrive in Algiers in the second half of this year, as will
a resident Commercial Secretary. This represents a considerable
increase on the current level of staffing and will, I hope, provide
a firm basis on which to pursue our growing joint interests with
Algeria, whether on counter-terrorism, energy security or EU issues.
I am acutely aware that our staff in Algiers carry a heavy
burden. Your recent visit gave you the opportunity to experience
some of the pressures on Post firsthand. We will continue to monitor
the Embassy's workload closely.
I am just back from Kabul-and was greatly impressed by the
work our Embassy is doing in very tough conditions.
Sir Michael Jay KCMG
Permanent Under Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
4 March 2005
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