Dear Members and Friends,
As we come to the end of the first quarter, we are pleased to continue to welcome new members to British Expertise International. This week, I wanted to highlight three new members.
Deloitte is a global professional services firm of 330,000 professionals, founded in the UK in 1845. The firm’s purpose is to make an impact that matters, for clients, talent, and society. Their consulting business delivers advisory and technology services across HMG. We are delighted to welcome Deloitte as members of both British Expertise International and The D Group.
MannionDaniels is a global development consultancy and fund manager working for an equitable, inclusive and sustainable world. They support the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people living in fragile and conflict-affected states with creative solutions to complex issues in health, social justice and social development.
Montrose is an international development consultancy and project management company providing services to bilateral and multi-lateral development agencies, non-governmental organisations, private sector clients, and other development stakeholders operating in Africa and Asia-Pacific. Montrose is specialised in the sectors of social performance, health, education, enterprise, environment and research and evaluation.
We welcome all these members and look forward to their engagement in our Events and Working Groups. I will provide further details of more new members in the coming weeks.
This week, as part of a wider series of events focusing on both Vietnam and its ASEAN neighbours, we hosted the latest in our virtual Deep Dive Series, focusing on Climate and Infrastructure related opportunities in Vietnam. We were delighted to host hosted Oliver Todd, HM Consul General and Director for Trade in Vietnam, his colleague Sam Wood and Neil Harvey Director and Ho Chi Min City office leader for Arup. The panellists gave an excellent overview of the socio-political developments in Vietnam, notably the signing of the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in 2021, the commitment of the country to the net zero objectives and its pivotal role in CPTPP which the UK hopeful of joining. Both Sam and Neil gave a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and challenge in infrastructure and the green economy. These sectors are full of very real opportunities but the challenges of doing business require a long-term view from business. The discussion also revealed opportunities in other sectors, in particular Education. With annual growth expected to exceed 7%, Vietnam is a country worth serious consideration. The recording and slides are available to Members here.
This week, we were delighted to co-host the Private View of an art exhibition in partnership with the Vietnamese Embassy featuring the work of the 14-year-old prodigy Xeo Chu. The art is truly stunning, and I would recommend any member who is in the vicinity of 23 Grafton Street to drop by to see the show — which runs until the end of next week.
Finally, this week, we also hosted our biweekly Built Environment meeting where members continued to engage and discuss future outputs. The group is currently in the process of creating an event to help showcase the report and members to a wider audience. We are also continuing to build towards developing a new chapter of the report and would greatly encourage all BEI members who have expertise in this area to join the group and contribute to the next issue. Please contact Katie Duffy for further information.
Next week, to complete our current series focusing on South- East Asia, we are delighted to be hosting an in-person event: on 7th April we look forward to hosting a panel discussion in partnership with our sister companies The D Group and BFPG on the subject of ‘The Indo-Pacific Tilt — one year on’. We will be joined by Sophia Gaston, Director of The British Foreign Policy Group and Research Fellow in the Institute for Global Affairs at the London School of Economics and Political Science; Bill Hayton, Associate Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House; Andrew Mitchell CMG, Director General for Exports and UK Trade at the Department for International Trade and Veerle Nouwens, Senior Research Fellow at the International Security Studies Department at RUSI. They will explore the progress made and potential changes from a geo-political, security and trade perspective. Please click here for more information and to register.
I also wanted to draw your attention to some other excellent in-person events in the coming weeks. On 13th April we look forward to welcoming Mike Short, the first ever Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department for International Trade. On 20th April, we will be hosting Turkey’s Ambassador to the UK, Umit Yalcin for a lunch. Finally, also on the 20th April, we have an excellent panel lined up to discuss the fascinating subject of ‘Technology and Aid: experiences, opportunities and challenges’. For more details on all these events, please click here.
Finally, our early spring-like weather from the last few weeks has been replaced by snow flurries, so thick coats back on. As schools Easter break sets in, l hope you manage to have a pleasurable weekend, whatever the weather might hold.
With Best Wishes
Derrick
Derrick Sanyahumbi
Chief Executive Officer
British Expertise International
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Upcoming Events
Currently most of our events are hosted virtually and we are starting to explore face to face and hybrid event options as the government eases socialising restrictions. For any event registration support please contact the events team. Click on titles to access full event details. The full calendar of events can be viewed here and recently added event dates are highlighted with an asterisk*.
4th April — BEI Education Working Group
7th April — In-person event: The Indo Pacific Tilt*
11th April — BEI Girls’ Education Working Group
13th April — Lunch with Mike Short: Chief Scientific Advisor
20th April — Lunch with Turkey’s Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Ümit Yalçın
20th April — Technology and Aid: Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges
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External News & Events
March 29th — Winning Contracts Masterclasses, please click here to find out more.
April 5th 2pm (BST) DIT ‘Doing Business with the UN and Multi-Lateral Development Banks’ The Department for International Trade (DIT) are hosting a session for #UK companies seeking to learn more about the UN, Multi-Lateral Development Banks, procurement processes, best practice and tools available. There will also be an opportunity to ask any questions you may have. Register here.
Mid April (dates TBC) — British Embassy in Tashkent is inviting UK companies to attend its flagship event — Uzbek British Trade and Investment Council (UBTIC). This is the official bilateral trade and investment forum convened by the governments of the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan. For more details, please contact Komila.Khamidova@fcdo.gov.uk.
25th — 29th April — Spatial analysis in QGIS and R — An Introduction for Environmental Scientists. Running over four half-day sessions, this hands-on and interactive online course will give you an introduction to spatial data analysis in an open-source environment. For more information click here and to sign up and pay online click here.
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