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FCO strategy
On 2 December 2003 I published the FCO's first public strategy document. This white paper sets out the UK's international priorities for five to ten years and the role we will play in achieving them. The full document is available on this website at www.fco.gov.uk/strategy. The Strategy is discussed in Chapter 9. Michael Jay's introduction considers how it will affect the way we are organised. Let me highlight four of the main policy themes.
The international context: a new agenda
The international landscape has changed dramatically. The Cold War is behind us. In the last eighteen months the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) have taken new members from central and eastern Europe, breaking down the old divisions within Europe. The Strategy considers the changing nature of problems and opportunities in foreign policy in this new context, and in the light of the attacks of 9/11. It considers the positive – and negative – impact of globalisation. Increased international flows of goods, money, knowledge and people are providing unprecedented opportunities for progress and wealth creation, but are presenting new challenges too. The Strategy sets clear strategic priorities to guide our actions.
Foreign policy is domestic policy
Another lesson reinforced over the past year is that we are increasingly affected by events in other parts of the world. Foreign policy is no longer foreign. It directly concerns us all, inside and outside government. Terrorism, drugs, crime and illegal immigration all come to our own streets, and directly affect our lives.
The FCO's job is to help to tackle these problems where they arise. The Strategy points out that our work is increasingly about delivering services to business and industry, to UK citizens in need abroad and to those who need a visa to enter the UK. The policy issues we work on increasingly affect the domestic agenda: jobs, the environment and security in our inner cities. Afghanistan is a prime example. Its main exports under the Taliban were terror, drugs and illegal immigrants. Now, with a new constitution and a freely elected government, the country is steadily if slowly changing for the better.
Effective multilateralism
The foreign policy agenda described in the FCO Strategy requires collective responses. There are so many issues, on such a scale, that no individual country can deal with them alone. UK diplomacy has sought to promote effective multilateral action on shared international problems. This requires strong institutions like the UN and EU which can act promptly and decisively. Equally important is the determination of like-minded, democratic countries to use these institutions to achieve their objectives.
The transatlantic partnership
Above all, for me, the last year has underlined the importance of co-operation between the USA and Europe. The transatlantic relationship is rooted in economic interdependence, shared democratic values and common security interests. The EU and the USA generate over 50 per cent of global exports, provide about 70 per cent of total overseas development assistance and our combined defence expenditure is over 60 per cent of the world total.
Some on both sides of the Atlantic have argued that the relationship is no longer as central as it was in the past. There are broadly two lines of argument: that Europe has become less important for the USA; or that the USA has become too powerful and Europe should aim to develop its power to act as a counterbalance. Both are wrong. Europe and the USA face the same international challenges. We have complementary assets. We need to act together and we are stronger when we do.
Europe needs to be a credible partner for the USA in dealing with security challenges. The UK has been working to promote this. There has been some encouraging progress: Javier Solana, the EU's foreign and security affairs representative, has produced the first European Security Strategy, taking a robust and pro-active line on the nature of threats and how to tackle them. The first EU action plan against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has been produced in parallel with the European Strategy.
The EU has taken a tough and united approach towards Iran's nuclear programme, with concerted action by both the EU institutions and individual EU countries. While much still remains to be done, this action offers a path towards a peaceful resolution on this troubling issue.
The EU is developing its military capability in a way that strengthens NATO and reinforces Europe's ability to act where NATO as a whole is not engaged. The EU has carried out military deployments in Macedonia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Europeans are leading the NATO peacekeeping operation in Afghanistan.
Of course the transatlantic partnership requires commitment on both sides. We have worked with the USA to avert a damaging trade dispute over steel. We are committed to further work together on HIV/AIDS and other crises of Africa. There remain significant differences between the EU and USA in our approaches to climate change, which we shall need to address with increasing urgency in the months and years ahead.
Iraq
I recognise that the military action against Saddam Hussein was controversial. I remain convinced that it was the right thing to do. It sent a powerful signal to those who persistently show contempt for international law and it removed an appalling regime. For the first time in decades the Iraqi people can look forward to a brighter future, free and at peace with their neighbours. Already, they can speak freely, practise their religion openly and are starting to rebuild their country.
As I write 44 FCO staff are working in Iraq. There are still significant security problems in parts of the country. We are helping to address them with the support of the new and increasingly capable Iraqi security forces. We are working to restore authority in Iraq to the Iraqi people. We look forward to substantial change over the coming year, with further improvements to schools, hospitals, electricity supplies and other services, more jobs and the inauguration of an internationally recognised Iraqi government. A transitional law, setting out the path to democracy, has been agreed. This is a major achievement for the people of Iraq: consensus, not conflict, is the way forward. Jeremy Greenstock, the Prime Minister's former Special Representative in Iraq, writes more about this on pages 36–38 and details of FCO work on Iraq are on pages 55–57.
Iraq caused tensions within the UK and between our most important international partners. It has provoked debate about the nature of current and future threats to international security and how we should deal with them. It has raised strategic questions about our relationship with the US. In the months and years ahead we shall need to come to a common understanding with our partners of the new challenges to our security. As the period of this report ends, the significant achievements of UK diplomacy, notably peacefully dismantling Libya's weapons programmes, provides a positive basis for this future work.
The constitutional debate in Europe
Discussions on a constitution for the European Union presented a major challenge. Member states did not manage to reach agreement in 2003, but the UK's active and constructive approach means that we are well placed for further work that should strengthen the EU after enlargement, improve its decision-making processes and enhance accountability. Over the coming year we will work hard to secure the progress we have made in these negotiations. These issues are covered in detail in Chapter 5.
Other achievements
Iraq, Europe and transatlantic issues have absorbed a lot of my time over the last year, and have attracted enormous media coverage. It is easy to forget how much else has been achieved through patient and persistent diplomacy. Here are three more examples. Others are listed on pages 10–12.
The UK, acting with the US, persuaded Libya's Colonel Qadhafi to begin a monitored programme of nuclear disarmament last December, a breakthrough that will significantly increase stability in the region, and the world.
With strong support from the UK and others, Afghanistan has made significant progress towards political and economic reconstruction. The country now has a constitution. Four million children are back at school, the economy grew an estimated 30 per cent in 2002–3 and over two and a half million refugees have returned.
The UK is playing a key role in bringing Sudan to the brink of peace and ending Africa's longest-running conflict in its largest country. Our Special Representative, Alan Goulty, and the Sudan Unit report jointly to me and Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary. The UK is now supplying funds and the largest international contingents of troops to the Joint Military Commission in the Nuba Mountains and the Verification and Monitoring Team in South Sudan to create the right conditions for peace on the ground.
I believe that the FCO's record for the last year is one of considerable achievement in supporting security, justice and greater prosperity around the world. The professionalism of our diplomats, our armed forces, our intelligence services and our development experts are second to none. I am deeply grateful to them and proud of what we have achieved. But there is always scope to do better; the new Strategy gives us a solid foundation on which to build further success.
Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw
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Contents, Forewords and Highlights (pages 1 to 12) (PDF, 166K) |
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Chapter 1, UK Global Influence (pages 13 to 40) (PDF, 1.32MB) |
- Istanbul (pages 39 to 40)
- Higher resolution version of the global distribution of diplomatic posts map (PDF) 11.7MB
