THE BIGGEST DIPLOMATIC GATHERING IN UK HISTORY
(A Report for BBC World Service "Calling the Falklands" by Jasper Corbett (JC) 10/01/03)
Senior diplomats and the heads of almost all British Embassies and Foreign Missions, have been meeting here in London this week to discuss how the Diplomatic Service can cope more effectively in an increasingly unstable and unpredictable world. Among the delegates was the Governor of the Falklands, Howard Pearce (HP). Jenny Hargreaves (JH) spoke to him afterwards.
HP: I think the meeting was inspired by a sense that the world is changing. With modern telecommunications and modern means of communication, it’s possible for us to interact very much more easily with each other and much more quickly with each other. We did produce a number of ideas which, I think, may have to be developed in detail, for example, the way in which we respond to crises. When a crisis happens on the other side of the world, whether it’s an emergency as something like the Bali bombing and how we get people to the place where they are needed to deal with that crisis. Maybe we don’t need that in the same way as in the past, just with the people who are there on the ground, how you get people in to set up an embassy where we have no representative before because British interests require us to do so. I was very encouraged by the readiness of everybody to engage in new thinking and to consider doing things in perhaps a different way from what we have done in the past.
JH: I believe there have even been suggestions of "flat pack" embassies where you don’t actually have to go around and find a building. You actually fly in a basic building and communications kit and just set it up.
HP: There are some places where that might be appropriate. For example, when we needed to move very quickly into Kabul after the end of the Afghan War and we needed to set up an embassy. That kind of mechanism is one I think would have been extremely valuable. Otherwise, when one has got to deal with a major consular emergency maybe where we don’t have any consular representation, like somewhere remote where you can get it in quickly and get communications operating quickly so that people can work as effectively as possible.
JH: After the terrible bombing in Bali, is this a new thinking about what you can do when there is such a horrific incident, if there are British Citizens involved?
HP: The need, often, in those circumstances is to get people on the ground who can help British Citizens who have suffered or are in trouble and who need immediate assistance. Often the Embassy in the country concerned may not have the physical resources, particularly if it is a small mission – the number of people required to do that. So, one of the things we have been looking at is whether there is scope for setting up some kind of emergency reaction team in London, who can go very quickly at very short notice to deal with that kind of incident.
JH: And, providing better information for British Subjects, for travellers, perhaps? Do you see some new thinking on that?
HP: Yes. That’s an area of the Foreign Office activity which we have long regarded as being extremely important. And, as you know, we provide, on the Foreign Office website, a comprehensive set of advice to travellers. But there is a very clear sense that we need to keep that up to date. We even need to make it a bit more sophisticated – even more user friendly. That’s something which both Ministers and officials and, indeed, Heads of Mission around the world are going to be focusing a great deal in the next few months.
JH: Now, non-governmental organisations have been addressing you during the conference. What sort of things have they been talking to you about?
HP: We had one representative of an NGO talking to us – the UK Director of Amnesty International. She was talking about how the Foreign Office deals with Human rights issues and her perceptions about the performance in that area. And, that was part of the feedback from a survey which we had recently carried out with our key stakeholders – people who are interested in what we do – business and the media, NGOs and there are many others as well – what they think of what we do – whether they feel we are performing the way they would like us to perform. We have had some very interesting and very encouraging feedback from the Head of Amnesty International and, indeed, from the others who spoke – a senior businessman and a senior newspaper editor as well. That was very useful and they are keen to develop that kind of dialogue in the future. So people can say what they like and what they don’t like about what the Foreign Office does.
JH: You have just come back from what is actually your first month in the Falkland Islands. How have you been enjoying your life down there?
HP: I’ve been enjoying it enormously. I have to say on a day when it is snowing outside here in London, I am looking forward to getting back to the Falkland Islands’ summer. But I have had a most fascinating first few weeks – meeting a lot of people – calling on all of the Departments of Government and getting a sense of the immense variety of work that is done there in the Falklands and getting to know the community. I’ve been extremely busy and it’s been extremely interesting and stimulating. And, I am looking forward to getting back and getting stuck in for 2003.
(100X Transcription Service)
