Hague set to announce plans to bolster Foreign Office

Posted by Cambokhmer Daily at 23:45

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William Hague is expected to outline plans to strengthen the Foreign Office

William Hague is set to outline ways in which he believes the Foreign Office has diminished in recent years.

BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said the foreign secretary's remedy will be more language training and more focus on bilateral relations.
Our correspondent added that he will discuss a shift in diplomacy from Europe to key emerging countries.
Mr Hague has tweeted that he will reveal plans for the "biggest drive ever to strengthen UK foreign policy".
The Foreign Office is facing a 26% cut from its current £1.6bn annual budget.
In May, the foreign secretary announced plans for five new embassies: in El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan and South Sudan, and in Madagascar and Somalia when local circumstances permit.
Extra offices are set to open in the world's fastest growing economies including Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Indonesia.
Mr Hague also told MPs there would be 50 extra British staff in China and 30 more in India.
"It's a tall order at a time of swinging Whitehall cuts," said our correspondent.
"But it's also symptomatic perhaps of a more general shift away from seeing the world as a globalised network and back to the old-fashioned business of diplomacy on the ground and between nation states."