Dec 5, 2025

BEI Weekly Update - 5th December 2025

by

David Landsman

by

Dear Members and Friends,

The highlight of our week was the visit by our President, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, who came to see our new offices on Birdcage Walk and, of course, the room named in his honour. His Royal Highness continues to take a close interest in BEI’s work and it was a privilege to be able to introduce members of the team to him and to brief him on our current activities and the broader Strategy International Group. We are most grateful to His Royal Highness for taking the time to be with us.

Continuing with business as usual, our International Development Heads of Business had the opportunity this week to hear from Will Hines, Director of Development and Open Societies at FCDO along with Juliette Prodhan, who is leading the organisation of the Future of Development conference early next year. As the international development model, in the UK and well beyond, is changing, we had the opportunity to hear at first hand about where the FCDO’s strategic thinking has got to and to feed in the ideas and experience of our members. This is a discussion we will aim to continue in 2026.

Yesterday, we hosted a webinar on Water and Waste Management Opportunities in Saudi Arabia. Many thanks to Simon Ayley, Director of Strategic Growth Partnerships from WRc who chaired the session alongside DBT colleagues Mohammed Farooq, Katherine Merryweather and Sarah Leonard. We also heard from Mohannad AlSaif, Waste-Management and Investment-Enablement Manager – MWAN and Ali Al-Sahary, Executive Director of the WTIIRA Institute SWA in Saudi Arabia. Our speakers shared an overview of water sector opportunities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, highlighting where UK organisations’ capabilities align with Saudi requirements.

On Tuesday a number of members joined us for a session on working with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). We heard an update on the Bank’s strategy together with guidance on navigating its procurement processes. We also heard a briefing on EBRD’s infrastructure Project Preparation Facility and a review of the infrastructure project pipeline. Many thanks to our EBRD speakers: Dirk Plutz, Associate Director, Procurement Policy Department; Sivan Pandian, Principal, PODD Consultancy Services; Pavel Linnik, Associate Director, Head of Unit in PPAD; David Tyler, Associate Director, Head of PPI/Project Preparation and Implementation; and Beverley Eckhart, Associate, Business Development.

With multilaterals in mind, I also had the opportunity this week to meet Ilan Goldfajn, President of the Inter American Development Bank and his team during their visit to London. As with our other partners among the MDBs, IADB values the support it receives from the UK Government and wants to work more closely with British companies and organisations. We are keen to help facilitate this process including with their planned Roadshow next May.

As the year comes to an end, our programme continues with a couple of events on 10 December. First, we look forward to a webinar on Integrating Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into Education Systems (10:00 – 11:00 GMT). Social and emotional learning has a crucial role to play in collective efforts to transform education to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary for positive social change as called for by SDG 4. This webinar will bring together experts in SEL to discuss best practice for integrating SEL into education systems globally. If you are interested in joining, click here.

Also on 10 December, we look forward to a round table on Philippine Capital Markets in partnership with FCDO. This roundtable brings together senior officials from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), focusing on the ESG landscape in the Philippines and opportunities for UK organisations to collaborate on projects that strengthen the country’s sustainable finance ecosystem, including green bonds and voluntary markets. Again, to register please click here.

Following our engagement with leaders of the Overseas Territories during the Joint Ministerial Council which I reported on last week, it was great to see BEI mentioned in the JMC’s communique. If you’re interested to revisit the background on our recent and planned work with the Overseas Territories, you can read more here.

I also wanted to ensure that members are aware that BEI submitted evidence to the International Development Committee’s inquiry on the Future of UK aid and development assistance, drawing selectively on the experience of a number of our members in delivering technical assistance. You can read our submission here: Future of UK aid and development assistance - Written evidence - Committees - UK Parliament.

‍Finally, BEI this week bids a very fond farewell to Max Twyman, our Events and Programmes Manager, who over the past four years has been behind the smooth running of countless in person and virtual events. I know our members – as well as, of course, the BEI team – will miss his reassuringly cheerful and always efficient presence around our offices. We wish him every success and look forward to seeing him “on the other side of the counter” as he moves to a new role with BEI member UCL Consultants. We’ll be making an announcement about a new appointment soon.

From a warmer – but very rainy - Athens, my best wishes for the weekend ahead

David Landsman

Executive Chairman

British Expertise International

Event recordings and resources:

(Member access only)

2nd December 2025 - Working with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
4th November 2025 - India - Water Resilience
23rd October 2025 - Trade and Investment Opportunities in the British Overseas Territories
18th September 2025 - Infrastructure Opportunities in South Africa
16th September 2025 - Meet UKEF: Asia and the Middle-East

‍Upcoming Events:

10th December 2025 10:00 – 11:00 GMT: Integrating Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into Education Systems - Join us for a webinar discussion bringing together experts in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and delving into best-practice for integrating SEL into education systems globally.‍
10th December 2025 13:00 – 15:00 GMT: Philippine Capital Markets Roundtable - Join us for a roundtable with senior officials from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), focusing on the ESG landscape in the Philippines and opportunities for UK organisations to collaborate on projects that strengthen the country’s sustainable finance ecosystem.

Register for an upcoming event →

External Events and Reports:

13th January 2026 - UK-Asian Development Bank Business Connect: Advancing Partnerships through Infrastructure and Innovation - SAVE THE DATE - This half-day event, taking place in Singapore (venue TBC) is hosted by the UK’s Department for Business and Trade, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank’s Singapore Office, with the aim of deepening UK business engagement with ADB and showcase UK innovation, expertise and available financing solutions across ADB’s priority sectors.