From the 18th to 20th February, the workshop on Governance and Management of science, technology and innovation in Regional development took place, an activity that forms part of the Newton-Paulet fund to build capacities in the Peruvian system of science, technology and innovation, through its development and commitment program. It was organized by the British Council and Concytec, with the support of Oxentia. Leader in the implementation of innovation policies in the United Kingdom. Representatives from the public, private sector, regional governments and regional chambers of commerce participated.

During the inauguration, the president of Concytec, Fabiola León-Velarde, expressed the need to promote and strengthen universities and research institutes to close the gap of researchers that exists in Peru. She addressed that Peru must first generate human resources in CTI to allow the transfer of knowledge.

In addition, the British ambassador in Peru, Kate Harrisson, emphasized the collaboration in research and innovation that both countries have and that it is been strengthened in recent years. “Science and innovation are important and essential for the sustainable development of any country. There is no growth that lasts without new knowledge, technologies and practices. Even more important, science and innovation influence and improve our lives, for example, clean energies and better medicines.

The event lasted three days, where the importance of the CTI’s investment and development in regions was emphasized, to give greater sustainability to the processes of innovation, employment generation and to improve the quality of life of their communities. The result of the workshop reflected in the design of a plan of action to promote the CTI in their regions with the objective of being able to assure financing of innovation as priority. In addition, the attendees were able to know the different instruments of funding, competitive funds and how these application mechanisms work, in order to be able to access them.

The project funds are aimed at supporting technical assistance work between the UK and Cuba in a number of priority areas through small – scale, high-impact project interventions (up to £10,000).

The British Embassy will now run a competitive bidding process in order to ensure we use our allocation for projects that are of high quality and deliver value for money.

Further information and guidance on how to bid is set out below.

Cuba Priorities for UK FY 2019-20 (expenditure must be complete at 85% by mid December 2019).

The Embassy is looking for innovative projects, with concrete objectives and measurable policy outcomes. We remind bidders that we cannot fund academic research projects, or research collaboration projects.

Your proposal must be related to one of the following policy areas:

• Financial and Professional Services, Central Banking.
• Global Health Threats, Biotech and Life Sciences
• Higher Education and English Language Teaching
• Energy (including renewable energy) strategy and technology
• Public Procurement
• Public Policy, Administration and Governance
• Cuban economy, challenges and solutions.

Who may bid? Eligibility criteria

In order to be eligible, your organization or agency must be a legal entity, not-for-profit or commercial company, a registered non-governmental (NGO) or governmental organization, an academic or research institution, and must demonstrate that it has:

• Previous experience in delivering and managing projects
• Preferably previous experience working with international agencies/organizations
• Proof of legal registration
• Sufficient technical, financial, human and logistical capacity to deliver the project being proposed.
• The capacity to deliver at least 85% of the proposed project activity by mid-December 2019.

How to bid?

Your proposal should include the followings forms:

1. Project Proposal Form for projects under £10,000

2. A fully developed Activity-Based Budget (financial breakdown)

Each institution may submit up to a maximum of 5 proposals, which can be completed in English or Spanish. The Embassy Programme Fund does not authorize the purchase of capital goods, flight costs above economy class, nor can it fund purely academic research projects.

Only bids approved by the Cuba Programme Board will be considered for delivery. Bidders will be advised if their proposals are accepted for implementation. When approved, implementers will be asked for further due diligence information, and finally asked to sign a contract or grant agreement with the British Embassy in Havana.

Please send all project documents to UKinCubaProjects@fco.gov.uk

In the subject line of the email please indicate “Project Proposal Form” and please include in the body of the message a brief reference to the organization and the project title.

The deadline for submission of project proposals is Monday March 25, 2019

The budget

Project proposals must outline how budgets are to be spent using the Activity Based Budget Form (ABB). Value for money must be demonstrated.

The full bid document must be accompanied by a fully completed activity based budget. FCO Project Management Procedures require the delivery of the budget using the ABB form.

This must be completed – the project proposal will not be considered without a detailed ABB. Implementers will need to break down all activity costs into components so it is clear how they are made up and which month each payment is due. Provide as much detail as possible, (i.e. do not state just the figure for a workshop, but break that down into venue, catering, travel costs etc.).

Indicative Timetable Bidding Round Timeline FY 2019-20

Documents for Downloading:

If you have any queries, then you should contact to Maria Sosa, Projects and Prosperity Assistant at the British Embassy in Havana: 72142231 / 52115372 / maria.sosa@fco.gov.uk

You will also find this Call for Bids at the Website of the British Embassy in Havana

Thank you Mr President. I would also like to thank the briefers for their valuable insights.

The United Kingdom welcomes Equatorial Guinea’s initiative to schedule a high-level debate on this important issue. The United Kingdom believes that it is vital that we translate the noble goal of silencing the guns into concrete initiatives that will make a tangible difference to lives of ordinary people across Africa. And with this in mind I’d like to highlight four priorities to follow up on.

First: strong and effective partnerships. These are crucial in ensuring that the sum of our efforts is greater than its parts. The United Kingdom is committed to our strategic partnership with the African Union to support peace, stability and development. In doing so, we will continue to take a holistic approach, recognising that there is a mutually reinforcing link between security and prosperity. We will also continue to support efforts to strengthen and deepen the partnership between this Council and African regional and subregional organisations. As the Secretary-General set out in his sustaining peace agenda, effective early warning and conflict prevention mechanisms require close cooperation between all relevant stakeholders. Together we can and should scan the horizon for signs of emerging conflicts and crises in Africa, sharing our insights and analysis. And we should collaborate to take meaningful action at an early stage whenever opportunities arise to de-escalate violence and advance political solutions.

Second, Mr President – and a number of Council members have referred to this today – we should give our full backing to effective preventative diplomacy, good offices and mediation as indispensable elements of regional and subregional efforts to promote peace and stability. The value of this work has been demonstrated in the African context. For example, in ECOWAS efforts to enable a peaceful transition of power in the Gambia in 2017 or IGAD support for the revitalisation of the peace process in South Sudan. This is why the United Kingdom is partnering with the African Union to support development of continental early warning capabilities in order to enhance preventative diplomacy efforts.

Third, Mr President, as Germany and Poland have already highlighted today and as the Silencing the Guns initiative rightly recognises, strengthening women’s participation is another vital element of effective conflict prevention and resolution. This is reflected in the United Kingdom’s current National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which includes commitments to support the implementation of national action plans in a range of partner countries, including Nigeria, the DRC and South Sudan. The United Kingdom is also a proud member of the Friends of Femwise group, supporting the African Union’s Femwise initiative to strengthen the network of African women involved in conflict prevention and mediation. We also attach great importance to the role of civil society and community initiatives to advance women’s participation in conflict prevention and peace making. The example of Liberian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee and her fellow activists shows that when women campaigned for peace from the grassroots level, their activism can have a truly catalytic effect.

Finally, Mr President and as many other speakers have mentioned this morning, peace making and peacebuilding efforts should be complemented by a robust approach to countering the proliferation of weapons, especially small arms and light weapons. Small arms and light weapons have a role in ensuring legitimate defence and security but their misuse costs hundreds of thousands of lives every year, undermines security and development and fuels conflict crime and terrorism. This cannot be achieved without effective functioning of peace and security institutions at the national level. But it also relies on strong cross-border and regional cooperation. The United Kingdom looks forward to continuing to work with the African Union on improving management of small arms and light weapons and ammunition in Africa. This should support and complement existing work through the UN as well as other arms control treaties, conventions and regimes, including the arms trade treaty. We urge all States in the region that have not yet done so to become party to the relevant international arms control instruments, demonstrating their commitment to countering the proliferation of illicit weapons.

Mr President, the United Kingdom will remain a staunch supporter of African initiatives to foster peace and security across the African continent. We look forward to hearing from other member states in the course of today’s debate about efforts in hand to deliver progress against the roadmap for silencing the guns to 2020 and beyond. Thank you.

Thank you all for joining us here at No 10 to celebrate St David’s Day and to the Prime Minister for kindly hosting us for the third year in a row.

This is a significant occasion for the UK Government to celebrate and mark the relevance of – what I would say – is the most important nation of the UK – Wales! The rugby on Saturday only confirms that!

Some of you over the last three years will be aware that I have always sought to highlight key facts about Wales, underlining the great contribution we make to the whole of the UK.

I think I have said on each and every occasion that Wales has more castles per square mile than any other nation in the world! So this year I‘ve got some new facts:

We are home to the world’s steepest road – Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech, Snowdonia.

Mount Everest is named after Sir George Everest, a Welshman for surveying the Meridian Arc over 35 years.

The equals sign was invented by Welsh Physician and Mathematician Robert Recorde from Tenby – so anyone who has had some problems with algebra, knows who to blame.

And the World’s first ever radio message was transmitted by Marconi in 1897, from Larvernock Point, on the edge of my constituency to Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel – a grand distance of three miles.

And the message was: “Are you ready?”

Well, we may be a small nation but we are definitely ready to underline, mark and celebrate our unique history, language and culture that adds so much to the diversity of the UK and beyond.

And as a government, we are ready to continue to support Welsh innovations, culture, academia and excellence in the public and private sectors to provide for the next generation of rightly proud Welsh men and women.

Welsh is one of Europe’s oldest living languages, having stemmed from the 6th century. Far older than English! And it is delight to see that 30% of the Welsh population now speaks at least some Welsh, with a quarter of children taught purely through the medium of Welsh.

Our great culture is about to be amply demonstrated by the choir and we are grateful for their presence here https://whitehall-admin.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/admin/speeches/newtoday and to the exhibitors for highlighting the great food offerings we have and their importance to the UK’s export drive.

The Prime Minister is a true champion of every part of the UK but I can speak from personal experience, I know Wales holds a very special place in the Prime Minister’s outlook. From promoting Welsh businesses like Aston Martin, who I can now say are a Welsh business, to international trade to driving exports. The Prime Minister always has Wales in her sights.

In August the PM and I took more Welsh businesses than any other part of the UK to Africa to promote Welsh excellence in supporting the developing world.

And over the last year, with the Prime Minister’s support, I have had the privilege of seeing our scientists at CERN in Geneva, our semi-conductor cluster – the largest in the world- has wowed international audiences and in three weeks time, I will present the first ever catalogue of Welsh projects to an international audience at the MIPIM conference in Cannes.

Our City and Growth Deals demonstrate our joint work with the Welsh Government. And earlier this week – for the first time ever, both governments jointly hosted an Ambassador’s event at the Foreign Office as part of Wales Week in London.

In this room we have some of Wales’ most talented people from businesses to culture and sport and I’d like to pay tribute to you for what you do to promote Welsh interests at home and overseas.

Let me end by bringing you the words of St. David which I hope can inspire us all:

“Byddwch lawen a gwnewch y pethau bychain.” Or “Be cheerful, keep your faith and do the little things.”

So Prime Minister – as well as the big things across government that you do on an ongoing basis, I know these words will be important to you because your attention to detail on the things that really matter epitomises your approach.

So, I am sure we will all agree that you are following the path and the advice of St David, the greatest Welshman to ever exist.

Thank you very much.

The very best of Welsh industry, produce and culture was celebrated at 10 Downing Street today at a reception hosted by the Prime Minister ahead of St David’s Day.