Dear Members and Friends,
This week’s Queen’s Speech contained a commitment to champion international trade, with a clear link to delivering jobs and economic growth. It also signalled the imminent Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand. For our own part, we will be strengthening our links and engagement with Australia and New Zealand over the coming year, to explore areas of opportunity for our members. We also look forward to hearing from over 60 Heads of Mission during our ‘Meet the Ambassadors’ series on the key areas of potential opportunity for UK plc.
After a period of discussion with the relevant members, we have decided to merge the ‘Infrastructure’ Working Group and the ‘Built Environment’ Working Group into one unified Working Group, as both the themes being tackled and the members participating were very similar. The merged working group will continue to focus on the UK’s skills and experience in delivering Infrastructure that is, by definition and design, both sustainable and resilient.
We will also take this opportunity to produce our first update to the Climate Change Reports into the issues of ‘Extreme Weather’, ‘Nature Based Solutions and the ‘Built Environment’ issued last year, which you can find here. If any members who did not participate in the first editions of these reports would like to contribute to the next versions, please contact Joe.
This week our Girls’ Education Working Group was pleased to host George MacLaughlin, Girls’ Education Programmes Team Leader at the FCDO along with his colleague David King, Economic Adviser in the Girls’ Education Department. Members were given an update on the current structures in the department, recent changes post-merger, FCDO’s framework for girls’ education and its programming, and recent trends in education financing. The recovery of learning loss is one of the FCDO’s top priorities, providing an opportunity for great synergies with our Education Working Group’s outputs and activities. We look forward to hosting George, David and their colleagues in future working group meetings, especially after the IDS is published and we can discuss the outcomes in some detail.
Next week, on Tuesday 17th May, we look forward to a session with the DIT team on ‘Global Health Strategy and Opportunities: The DIT Priorities’. This event is open to all UK health organisations working or looking to work in international markets. We are delighted to be joined by the DIT team, which will include Dr Aphrodite Spanou, Director for Healthcare, Life Sciences and Chemicals; Rahul Agarwal, Deputy Head Healthcare & Life Sciences; David Sheppard, Deputy Head Healthcare; and Madhukar Bose, Deputy Head Healthcare.
On Tuesday 24th May, we look forward to launching The SLN Recruiters Working Group, established to support Recruiters, HR staff, and other Safeguarding Leads Network (SLN) member organisations’ teams working on safeguarding and involved in recruitment processes (i.e. staff, consultants, or contractors). This inaugural meeting will shape the future of the Group, providing an opportunity for peer-to-peer engagement to share experiences, challenges, and lessons. The group’s main focus will be knowledge sharing around recruitment processes, relevant FCDO initiatives (i.e. Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, Aid Worker Registration Scheme, Project Soteria), and policies. Please extend the invitation to the meeting to your HR colleagues, or colleagues involved in recruitment, in HQ or in country offices. This Working Group and its activities are open to SLN member organizations only. If you would like to enquire about joining the SLN or the Working Group, please contact Iulia Ward.
On Wednesday 25th May we look forward to hosting the Asian Development Bank’s Director of Macroeconomic Research Abdul Abiad, who will take us through the key highlights from the Asian Development Outlook 2022 report launched last month. Insights will include the drivers of recovery across the region and perspectives on the key risks weighing on the region’s outlook. He will share insights on policy responses, and potential long-term effects of the global headwinds, including current impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following week, on Tuesday 31st May, we will be hosting a presentation on the impact that the European Union’s Green New Deal will have on UK businesses. As the European Union begins to rapidly pursue its Climate related targets, a multitude of new regulations are being brought in that will ultimately impact on both trade and development projects. Do join us to find out more.
On Wednesday 1st June, we will also be hosting a panel event the with BEI Built Environment Working Group who will be presenting their latest work on Resilience in the Built Environment. Resilience has long been a core aspect of the Built Environment, but now with the increasing impact of climate change, this topic has gathered renewed significance amongst businesses and policymakers. Join us for this online event as our panelists share insights into the Built Environment Working Group’s unique framework for contextualising the UK export offer in this area, whilst also showcasing the latest projects being delivered by UK exporters.
On Wednesday 8th June, with an ever-increasing mandate and a new strategy, we look forward to welcoming British International Investment (BII) previously the CDC Group’s Colin Buckley (Managing Director) and Andrew Palmer (Director of Global Affairs) as they present on the UK’s development finance institution’s new 2022–2026 strategy and key highlights on its role as part of the UK Government’s international development financing offer. Join us to hear more about BII’s plans and priorities over the coming years. For more details and to register for these events, please click here.
Finally, as we begin to see our traditional headlines at this time of year that the UK will be ‘hotter than (insert country here)’ next week, I do hope that you enjoy what looks like an increasingly positive outlook over the weekend and into next week.
With Best Wishes
Derrick
Derrick Sanyahumbi
Chief Executive Officer
British Expertise International
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See our full events programme here, and to enquire about becoming a member of BEI, register your interest here.
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Upcoming Events
Currently most of our events are hosted virtually and we are starting to explore face to face and hybrid event options as the government eases socialising restrictions. For any event registration support please contact the events team. Click on titles to access full event details. The full calendar of events can be viewed here.
17th May — Global Health Strategy and Opportunities: the DIT view
17th May — BEI Built Environment Working Group
18th May — BEI Climate Change Working Group
24th May — BEI Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group
24th May — Safeguarding Leads Network (SLN) Recruiters Working Group
25th May — Asian Development Outlook 2022
31th May — Unpacking the European Green Deal: What could this mean for UK businesses?
1st June — Resilience in the Built Environment
6th June — BEI Education Working Group
8th June — Doing Business with British International Investment (formerly CDC Group)
9th June — The OECD Blue Dot Network: A Proposal for a Global Certification Framework
13th June — BEI Girls’ Education Working Group
13th June — Meet The Ambassadors: West Africa
14th June — Meet The Ambassadors: Middle East (GCC)
14th June — Meet the Ambassadors: The Caribbean
15th June — Meet the Ambassadors: East and Central Africa
15th June — Meet The Ambassadors: Latin America
15th June — BEI Climate Change Working Group
16th June — Meet The Ambassadors: Central Asia
16th June — Meet the Ambassadors: North Africa
21st June — Meet the Ambassadors: South Asia
21st June — Meet the Ambassadors: Southern Africa
22nd June — Meet The Ambassadors: Southeast Asia
22nd June — Meet The Ambassadors: Middle East (non-GCC)
23rd June — Meet the Ambassadors: Western Balkans
28th June — BEI Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group
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External News & Events
Egypt Inwards Mission (1 to 20 May): the British Egyptian Business Association (BEBA) in collaboration with DIT Egypt is bringing a delegation of Egyptian Ministers and business leaders to the UK. There is a series of roundtables discussions covering the investment climate infrastructure, renewables, climate change, green finance and much more. This visit is particularly relevant as Egypt will host CoP27 at Sharm El Sheikh. Attendance at the events is by invitation only. For anyone who wishes to participate please contact Katie Duffy (kd@britishexpertise.org)
17th — 18th May — UKEF is hosting a supplier fair on 17th and 18th May which may be of interest to members in the water/civil engineering sector. Please find details of the hybrid event on the event page here: UKEF Supplier Fair. The event is free to attend and suppliers can register their interest and find further information on that event page.
26th May — The Saudi E-Commerce Council in partnership with the SBJBC and DIT will be hosting a Saudi/UK E-commerce event in London on the morning of 26 May. The Saudi delegation will be led by HE Dr Majed AlQasabi, Minister of Commerce, and includes senior representatives of key Saudi public sector stakeholders. Please Register Here or for further information visit the SBJBC events page.
10th June — The Africa Forum (Africa in the emerging global economic order) is an annual gathering where OECD officials and African policymakers, private sector, academia, and civil society leaders weigh the continent’s approaches to face the present and the challenges that lie ahead. This 21t edition of the AU-OECD International Economic Forum on Africa takes place in the framework of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM), chaired by Italy under the theme “The Future We Want: Better Policies for the Next Generation and a Sustainable Transition”. Event registration and more information can be found on the OEDC development page
28th June — The Saudi British Joint Business Council (SBJBC) is planning a half-day Renewable Energy Forum in London on 28 June 2022 in partnership with the Lord Mayor and City of London. The Forum will focus on investment and partnership opportunities in renewable energy and clean-tech, including hydrogen, and the finance available. For further information or to register your interest please contact Cordelia Begbie at operations@sbjbc.org or visit the SBJBC Events Page.
28th — 29th September — Field Electronics and Sensors Training : The one-day BEGINNER course will give you an introduction to electronics as applied to environmental sensors in the field. The one-day ADVANCED course will build on the Beginners course and Learners will gain advanced knowledge on data logging systems, sensors, communication protocols and remote data downloading. Find more details HERE.
Date TBC — The Government of Jamaica intends to commission the construction of a new Parliament building. JAMPRO intends to host a webinar to explain the opportunity — date to be confirmed and will share with members. Please see below details: ePPS — View Competition details (gojep.gov.jm) https://udcja.com/2022/04/04/construction-of-the-new-jamaica-houses-of-parliament-at-national-heroes-park-kingston-jamaica/
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20201118/us50m-price-tag-new-parliament-building
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