Author: Great Britain: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2006-03-28

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780101676229

In 2003 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) published its first white paper on the UK's international priorities, and has reviewed that paper every two years to ensure it remained relevant. This paper updates the analysis and establishes a new range of strategic priorities. Chapter 1 considers the trends driving global change over the next decade and how they will affect the UK: economics; demography and migration; resource pressures; climate change; religion and identity; poverty and governance; security and conflict; science and innovation. The next chapter looks at the UK's role in the international system and the key partnerships. This covers the United Nations, multilateral economic institutions such as the World Bank, the G8 and OECD, the Commonwealth and the European Union (EU), and relationships with the United States, China, India, Japan and Russia, and countries with important regional roles such as Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia. Chapter 3 outlines the nine strategic international priorities identified: (1) making the world safer from global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction; (2) reducing the harm from international crime, including drug and people trafficking, and money laundering; (3) preventing and resolving conflict through a strong international system; (4) building an effective and globally competitive EU; (5) supporting the UK economy through the global economy, science and innovation, and secure energy supplies; (6) promoting sustainable development and poverty reduction, underpinned by human rights, democracy, good governance and protection of the environment; (7) managing migration and combating illegal immigration; (8) delivering high-quality support for British nationals abroad; (9) ensuring the security and good governance of the UK's overseas territories. Chapter 4 sets out the role of the FCO in pursuing these priorities, and an annex gives specific aims for each strategic priority.