Dear Members and Friends,
Although the year is not quite over yet, we have been looking back at the activities that have taken place in 2021. In total we have convened well over 100 events across the year — with the vast majority being conducted virtually. Our ‘Meet The…’ series has helped members engage with Ambassadors, Trade Envoys and Trade Commissioners covering all parts of the globe. More recently our ‘In Person…’ activities have returned, as we have hosted the Ambassadors from Nigeria and Azerbaijan, and the DIT Trade and Export Director General, Andrew Mitchell. Through the activities of our Working Groups, we have supported the creation of four excellent reports showcasing British expertise — in Education and Climate Change. Our programme and plans for 2022 continue in the same vein, and I will share more detail on this in the coming weeks.
This week, we continued our ‘Meet the Trade Envoy’ series with a — Roundtable with Trade Envoy Lord Davies, who covers Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a growing market and its geographical location in South Asia makes it an attractive base from which to reach a regional market of over 1.6 billion people. Participants were able to share insights on some of the challenges of doing business in Sri Lanka and the region, and Lord Davies reiterated his willingness to support UK companies and help them to achieve their business ambitions.
This week also saw the Education Working Group continue their discussions with multi-lateral bodies in an event with UNICEF & Education Systems Recovery. We were delighted to welcome back Robert Jenkins, Global Director of Education for UNICEF. One of the key takeaways from a fantastic discussion was the need to make the economic & political case for prioritising global education and move away from an education for education’s sake discussion.
Heading into next week, on 7th December we will be hosting an event focused on Jamaica: Infrastructure Opportunities. In partnership with the Caribbean Council and in collaboration with JAMPRO, the Government of Jamaica investment promotions agency, this event will include an introduction from UK Ambassador to Jamaica HE Judith Slater & will provide insights into the wide range of opportunities Jamaica offers, with an additional presentation focused on the infrastructure sector and a ‘fireside-chat’ with representatives from the Development Bank of Jamaica and the National Water Commission.
On 9th December we look forward to a panel discussion on the ICAI Report — UK Aid’s Alignment with the Paris Agreement which has since received the FCDO’s response. The recent ICAI report findings published in October 2021 suggested that a “more ambitious approach is required for the alignment of UK aid with the Paris Agreement”. Join us for what will be an interesting discussion as ICAI Chief Commissioner Tamsyn Barton shares the findings and we open up for a broader discussion.
I suspect many of you are ahead of me, but my weekend may be spent doing Christmas present shopping, who knows I may run into some of you in the malls.
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.
Join our Working Groups — as part of our member focus, the working groups offer opportunities for peer-to-peer engagement, learning & sharing, profiling expertise & capabilities and highlighting thought leadership. Groups include Climate Change, Education, infrastructure, D&I, and we also support a Safeguarding Leads Network. For details contact Joe McLynn
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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 and recently added event dates are highlighted with an asterisk*.
7th December — Jamaica: Infrastructure Opportunities
9th December* — ICAI Report — UK Aid’s Alignment with the Paris Agreement
14th December — Roundtable with Trade Envoy Marco Longhi
13th January* — Project Acquisition Software — DevelopmentAid
18th January* — Lunch with UK Export Finance CEO Louis Taylor
19th January* — The FCDO & Global Health Priorities
27th January — Doing Business & Opportunities with the EBRD
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External News & Events
7th December — UK Export Finance is hosting their fourth UK Trade and Export Finance Forum. They will return to the QEII Conference Centre in London from 09:00–19:00. This event will look at the role of trade finance in the transition towards clean growth and renewable energy. Learn more and register here.
9th- 11th December- The UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is running their ‘In the Future… How will we Learn?’ event programme. Hosted at the UK Pavilion, these events will convene a range of international experts and ministers and explore some of the most pressing educational issues of the day. Further information on the ‘How will we Learn?’ programme at the UK Pavilion can be found here
25th — 29th April — Spatial analysis in QGIS and R — An Introduction for Environmental Scientists.There is an Early Bird discount is valid until 17 December, 3 pm, thereafter £50 more. Running over four half-day sessions, this hands-on and interactive online course will give you an introduction to spatial data analysis in an open-source environment. The course will focus on the use of QGIS and R as well as providing a theoretical background to working with spatial data and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). For more information click here and to sign up and pay online click here.
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