Select Committee on Business and Enterprise Written Evidence


Memorandum submitted by BERR/UKTI

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY PILOT (PDP): TURKEY

BACKGROUND

  The Public Diplomacy Pilot is an initiative of the Public Diplomacy Board, which was set up in 2006 following the review of Public Diplomacy completed by Lord Carter of Coles. Bringing together representatives of the principal FCO-funded PD players—the FCO itself, the British Council and the BBC World Service—the Board is chaired by the Minister for Europe and includes two independent members. The Board decided to pilot a new, more strategic approach to public diplomacy and the evaluation of its impact in a small number of Posts. Public diplomacy partners in these countries are focusing activity on the delivery of specific priority objectives in two-year pilots which were launched from April 2007. Additional resources have been directed to these pilots to support this work. The priorities are:

    —  Climate Security.

    —  Supporting democratic development.

    —  Promoting the UK economy and British business.

  There are two objectives behind the pilot Posts initiative:

    (i)  to concentrate efforts on priority issues in priority countries in order to deliver the UK's foreign short and long term policy objectives; and

    (ii)  to test public diplomacy approaches to see what works and what doesn't, as a means of informing decisions on future activity.

  Two Posts were selected to pilot the UK Economy and Business theme—Turkey and India. Strategies for each have been jointly developed and agreed by the FCO, British Council and UKTI. The Turkey strategy was approved by the Board in July 2007.

  The FCO allocated a total of £150,000 spread over 2007-08 and 2008-09 for the implementation of the initiative in Turkey. This was matched by a similar amount from the British Council.

ITS AIM

  Its aim in Turkey is to promote the UK and what it has to offer in particular:

    —  its business environment including the innovative attitude of business;

    —  the city of London as the finance centre of the world;

    —  our legal structure; and

    —  our professional development and business management expertise, focusing in particular on corporate social responsibility (CSR).

HOW IT RELATES TO UKTI ACTIVITY

  It is fundamental to UKTI's strategy to strengthen and deepen our economic and trade relationship with Turkey.

  By working with Turkey on these issues and showing what the UK has to offer, it will provide both opportunities for British business to work with Turkish authorities in these areas and ultimately provide a better environment for British business to flourish in Turkey. An integral element of the pilot is to ensure that effective evaluation measures are put in place to assess the impact of pilot activity. All activities under the pilot must therefore build in evaluation.

ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES: PAST AND PLANNED

    —  Two specialised Turkish economic journalists were sent to the UK for a Financial Services Press Tour. They returned highly enthused and wrote positive articles for their magazines.

    —  UK legal bodies, including the Law Society of England and Wales, are working with the British Turkish Lawyers Association to identify areas where the Turkish legal system works against foreign investment. They aim then to develop three projects to address these problem areas, of which will focus on alternative dispute resolution.

    —  Establishment of a CSR working group at TUSIAD (equivalent to CBI) to offer the UK's experience of ethical business practice. Among other things a mission of TUSIAD members to London is planned in March.

    —  William Oulton, a strategic adviser to the London's FTSE4Good index, visited Istanbul and is currently preparing a proposal with support from FTSE and the London Stock Exchange to develop the concept of a Turkish FTSE4Good Index. The aim of the Index is to measure the performance of companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards and to facilitate investment in those companies.

    —  A Press Tour to Newcastle and Manchester to promote investment in the technical textile and renewable energy sectors.

    —  Training on ethical reporting of Turkish media on economic, energy and environment themes through the UK media NGO, the Thomson Foundation.

March 2008





 
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