Author Archives: HM Government

La experiencia británica de talla mundial en temas de agro se destacará en Agrofuturo 2017 , la plataforma de negocios y conocimiento líder para el sector agropecuario en América Latina. Durante este evento participaremos con una delegación comercial de empresas británicas que ofrecen soluciones innovadoras relacionadas con el agro. Igualmente, expondremos sobre los proyectos Ganadería Colombiana Sostenible y Semillas del Futuro, ambos financiados por el Reino Unido.

Ganadería Colombiana Sostenible:

• Su propósito es promover la adopción de sistemas de producción silvopastoriles en fincas ganaderas para mejorar la gestión de los recursos naturales, incrementar la prestación de servicios ambientales (biodiversidad, suelo, agua y retención de carbono), y elevar la productividad en las fincas participantes. Desde 2010, el gobierno británico ha aportado £15 millones de libras esterlinas, administradas por el Banco Mundial.
• Como resultado, más 40 mil hectáreas de los predios participantes del proyecto tienen prácticas sostenibles, transformando la manera tradicional y extensiva de hacer ganadería, por una más productiva y en sintonía con la naturaleza. Además, cerca de 2700 ganaderos que decidieron inscribirse a través de convocatorias públicas en 12 departamentos, hacen parte del proyecto aprendiendo estrategias que luego implementan en sus predios.

Semillas del Futuro:

• Planea reemplazar las actuales instalaciones del banco de germoplasma del CIAT, en su sede principal cerca de Palmira, transformándolo en un centro de recursos genéticos del siglo XXI que no solamente conserve la diversidad de cultivos, sino que además investigue y promueva activamente su uso para el mejoramiento de los cultivos, la adaptación al clima y la seguridad alimentaria. Esta iniciativa es implementada por el Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical CIAT en alianza con el Consejo de Investigación en Biotecnología y Ciencias Biológicas del Reino Unido. Nuestro Embajador Peter Tibber anunció en marzo pasado una contribución de £1 millón de libras a esta iniciativa.

Los invitamos a seguir nuestras redes sociales con toda la información de este evento:

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Thank you Mr President, and a happy new year to you. And thank you also to Special Representative Menkerios for your briefing.

At the outset let me express my thanks to you, Mr President, and to the Secretariat, for leading a successful visit to the African Union in Addis Ababa. We all saw and heard firsthand just how critical the relationship is between the UN and the AU and I look forward to, and commit to, doing whatever I can to strengthen that relationship.

I do so because our two great organisations share the same objectives, the same priorities, and the same respect for the principle of African leadership. So it’s in all of our interests to forge an even closer relationship as we strive to maintain peace and security in Africa. To do so, I see three steps that we should take.

First, and as others have said, we need to do more to learn from each other. A simple first step would be having more joint briefings in this Chamber from AU and UN officials as we do on Somalia. They are a vital means of increasing the awareness and knowledge of all of us around this table. There should also be more joint analysis, joint planning and joint assessments so that we form a common understanding of a situation and together find common solutions.

The recent UN/AU visit to DRC and Nigeria on women, peace and security is an example of the sort of collaborative work we should encourage. We should cultivate our joint reporting on gender based violence in places like South Sudan so that we move beyond reporting to sharing of action plans, and further collaboration. We should agree as the United Nations that we will make available any of our Special Envoys or Special Representatives if the African Union PSC wish to hear from them. And we should invite the African Union to do the same.

We should also look at what more we can do as Member States. The United Kingdom works closely with AU member states to provide military capacity building, delivering training and sharing expertise on improving accountability, human rights compliance and preventing sexual violence in conflict. I know others are doing the same and I encourage all to do so.

Second, Mr President, we need both organisations to play to their comparative strengths so that together we are more than the sum of our parts. We need only look to Somalia to see that it works. The bravery and the heroism of AMISOM troops, to whom I pay genuine and profound tribute, supported by the United Nations, has enabled the political process and progress we see there.

During this year’s Presidential elections, it was AU troops who protected the venue, infrastructure and participants, ensuring the safety and security of all those involved. And it was the UN Support Office in Somalia who helped AMISOM in the preparatory work, setting up the venue, ensuring the integrity of the site, as well as providing vital security equipment to AMISOM. Together they, we, helped make history; ensuring that the most democratic presidential elections in Somalia in decades passed off successfully and peacefully. It is a model that we should replicate elsewhere.

My third and final point, Mr President, is that our cooperation will count for little without sustainable financing. As we heard last week during our discussions with the AU PSC in Addis, this is a top objective for all of us. So we must find a solution which shares the responsibility to provide adequate, predictable and sustainable financing to AU-led missions, including the AU’s own commitment to fund 25% of costs by 2020.

It was important to the UK, that on our visit in Addis, so many speakers from the two Councils, and the AU Commission, reiterated their commitment to finding and funding that 25%. This financial solution must be combined with the undertaking of agreed standards and mechanisms to ensure oversight and accountability for performance, conduct and discipline, including sexual exploitation and abuse, and financial management. In doing so, not only will the finances of AU missions be secured, but their performance and their accountability will also improve. This will only be to the benefit of peace and security and to the benefit of so many outside this chamber. This seems to me a fruitful area for concrete follow up by the UN Secretariat and the AU PSC.

In conclusion, Mr President, there is still some way to go to bring our organisations even closer together. But through these three steps I believe we can do so. And our collaborative progress to date should encourage us that we can resolve future challenges together. Thank you.

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UK calls for the Government of Azerbaijan to end restrictions on independent media.

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Shelter kits provided by UK aid are being distributed in Anguilla to help those left homeless by Hurricane Irma.

The kits, transported by Britain’s Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Mounts Bay, are being delivered to people in need by the Anguillan Red Cross.

Crews from RFA Mounts Bay are also today delivering UK aid including shelter, food and water to those affected on Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.

On the Island of Tortola, British military troops are delivering food and water having already helped to make the area secure, enabling aid to be delivered.

In addition, the UK has helped to distribute water bottles to 700 of the most vulnerable households affected by Hurricane Irma on the British Virgin Islands.

There are now 1,000 UK military troops in the region helping with the relief effort.

International Development Secretary Priti Patel said:

The UK government continues to deliver UK aid to the victims of Hurricane Irma as a matter of extreme urgency.

We have over 40 tonnes of DFID aid in the region, and more aid is arriving every day.

Our military troops, police officers and aid workers are doing an amazing job on the ground, to get vital supplies to those who need it most.

To suggest the UK reacted slowly and is not doing enough is just plain wrong. We are leading the way, and other countries, are now coming to us for help.

In addition to providing support on the ground, the UK Government is working closely with affected governments to continue to understand what assistance is needed to ensure the right aid is getting to the right place.

Yesterday, International Development Secretary Priti Patel spoke to the Governor of the Virgin Islands, Augustus Jaspert, to discuss emerging needs on the island. Earlier today she briefed the Cabinet on these latest developments.

HMS Ocean, which was loaded in Gibraltar with 5,000 hygiene kits, 10,000 buckets and 500,000 water purification tablets, is due this evening to be deployed to the region.

The government has made £2.5 million available to the Pan American Health Organisation to ensure critical health services are provided in the region, and to reduce the risk of disease spreading.

This is part of the £32 million it has so far pledged to the relief effort.

DFID has deployed 18 staff in total to the region, including to Turks and Caicos, using British expertise to provide urgent relief to those in need and support efforts to restore infrastructure.

The UK Government is being supported by companies in the private sector, including:

• Thomson and Thomas cook who have delivered over 8,000 buckets on commercial flights
• Virgin, who offered free transport to dispatch relief items including 1776 shelter kits, to Antigua yesterday.

Today, we expect another 288 kits to fly the same route with them.

Notes to editors

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The move to return the functions, which include community safety and waste collection, follows the latest report by the government-appointed Commissioner team that noted steady improvement by the council.

This council has already regained 8 powers in the last 9 months.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said:

The council is continuing to make progress under the watchful eye of our commissioners and the return of additional powers to Rotherham reflects this progress.

However, the commissioners will remain in place and continue to work with the council to help restore full democratic powers.

Steady progress by the council

The Commissioner team, led by Mary Ney, who replaced Sir Derek Myers as Lead Commissioner in April 2017, outlined continuing improvements in her progress report of 18 May 2017.

The Communities Secretary will hand back control of the following functions to the council:

• performance management in each of the council’s service areas
• waste collection
• community safety which includes community cohesion and domestic violence
• human resources
• asset management including both land and property assets

To give further assurance to residents, the community safety service will be returned with enhanced oversight by the commissioner team over services supporting victims of domestic violence. This would allow the relevant commissioner to veto any Cabinet decision if they feel necessary.

Commissioners will retain executive decision making power over children’s social care services, special allowances, and also the appointment and dismissal of any statutory officers. They will also continue to have oversight over all returned functions.

Mr Javid will continue to receive 3-monthly reviews from the commissioners.

Further information

Commissioners with executive responsibilities at Rotherham metropolitan borough council are:

• Lead Commissioner – Mary Ney
• Children’s Social Care Commissioner – Patricia Bradwell
• Supporting Commissioner – Julie Kenny CBE

The intervention is expected to end on 31 March 2019.

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