CX hosts Commonwealth Minister at its Autumn reception at the FCO

Last Thursday Commonwealth Exchange was delighted to welcome Rt Hon Hugo Swire MP, The Minister of State for the Commonwealth, to deliver the keynote speech at our Autumn reception.

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The reception was held in the incredibly grand Locarno Suite (dubbed "the Drawing room for the Nation") at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

The Minister's full speech can be found here but here are a few of the highlights:

"We have a duty to ensure the Commonwealth continues to evolve, adapt and stay relevant in the 21st Century."

"Commonwealth Exchange... have rightly called for more focus on Commonwealth trade. We can - and must - be more ambitious."

"Together, we belong to a unique network - the Commonwealth family. It has global reach and great diversity. But it also has vast, untapped potential. And I hope tonight we take another step in releasing it."

Our Executive Director Tim Hewish also spoke at the event. He discussed the need to put trade at the centre of our engagement with the Commonwealth. In addition he laid out some of our upcoming projects, and in particular our upcoming visa report which launches a week today.

The final speech came from two Directors of Quirk, a marketing agency who launched in South Africa 15 years ago and now have clients and offices across the Commonwealth.

Thanks to all who attended, to the Minister and Quirk for speaking, and to the FCO for hosting. We hope you all enjoyed it.

Commonwealth Week Highlights

As Commonwealth week draws to a close, here are some of our highlights:

1) We celebrated Commonwealth Day by publishing a Buzzfeed post promoting some of the things we love about the Commonwealth. Read our 10 reasons the Commonwealth is Awesome here.

2) Ralph Buckle, our Director and Co-founder, also wrote a piece for ConservativeHome (one of the UK's leading political blogs). He argued that, as the Commonwealth approaches 65, it's time for it to be refreshed not retired. Read it here.

3)Tim Hewish, our Executive Director and Co-founder, attended the Commonwealth Day Reception 2014 at Marlborough House. At the event he had the opportunity to explain CX's aims and activities to Her Majesty The Queen. He also had a productive discussion with the Commonwealth Secretary General, His Excellency Mr Kamalesh Sharma.

Photos by Richard Lewis & Stefan Kneba

Photos courtesy of The Commonwealth Digital Library

4) Her Majesty The Queen released her Commonwealth message. She said that "Affinities of history and inheritance from the past are strong, yet we are bound together by a sense that the Commonwealth is a powerful influence of good for the future. People of all ages from different cultures are weaving an ever-growing network of links which connect us in our diversity and our common purpose." The full message is here.

5) The UK's Commonwealth Minister Hugo Swire wrote a piece for the Huffington Post on his vision for the Commonwealth. You can read it here.

6) On Thursday CX also attended a Parliamentary meeting with the Indian Cabinet Minister for External Affairs, Mr Salman Khurshid. He discussed opening up the market for Indian & UK lawyers to work together referencing the benefits of similar legal systems. Our Advisory Board member Lord Flight quizzed him on the commercial environment and trade. The Minister concluded by calling the partnership "The Unique Relationship" to mirror the UK and the USA's "Special Relationship."

7) MP's discussed the Commonwealth in a Westminster Hall debate. You can read our highlights here and the full text of the debate here. Our Advisory Board Member Andrew Rosindell MP's comments on the absence of the Commonwealth flags from Parliament Square this year are particularly worth reading.

8) In spite of the lack of flags flying in Parliament Square, they were flying on Horse Guards Road which runs alongside the Treasury, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence. We arranged for a photographer to take a few shots. Click through on the image below:

9) Over 500 Commonwealth Flags were also flown all over the UK thanks to the Fly a Flag for the Commonwealth initiative.

10) On Friday we had a productive meeting with the Commonwealth Unit at the FCO to discuss our programme of activity and how we can collaborate to make sure the Commonwealth thrives in the 21st Century.

Commonwealth Minister quizzed on UK trade with Commonwealth

Andrew at our launch event

Our Advisory Board member Andrew Rosindell MP has been quizzing the UK Commonwealth Minister. Yesterday he questioned Hugo Swire MP on "what action he is taking to develop the UK's trading relationship with other Commonwealth countries."

He responded:

"The UK is committed to strengthening trade across the Commonwealth. UK Trade and Investment is helping strengthen trade links with markets across the world that are key to the UK's future prosperity and is now represented in 22 Commonwealth countries. These include high growth markets such as India, Singapore, South Africa and Malaysia and others such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where we already have significant and well established trading relations. We are also working hard to ensure the EU signs ambitious Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Commonwealth countries to improve the access of UK companies to these markets. The EU has a Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement with South Africa, while negotiations on FTAs with Canada and Singapore reached a political conclusion last year. The EU/Canada Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement [our piece on this here] will benefit the UK economy and businesses by over £1.3 billion a year. EU negotiations are also ongoing with India and Malaysia.

Ahead of this year's Commonwealth games in Glasgow, UKTI, the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and the Commonwealth Business Council are working together to deliver a business conference for 200 Commonwealth business leaders. UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) are also organising a British Business House, which will showcase UK plc to Commonwealth businesses.

As the Minister of State for the Commonwealth, I spoke at the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) in Colombo [at which the Secretary General also welcomed CX], which took place ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, to highlight the Commonwealth's potential for increased trade and investment. UKTI sent a representative to the CBF to support British businesses.

We welcome the appointment of Lord Marland of Odstock as Chair of the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC). We expect his appointment will help the CBC work towards increased trade and investment across the Commonwealth."