Close X
Sunday, November 24, 2024
ADVT 
International

UK cuts diplomatic jobs in countries like India, Pak, China: Report

Darpan News Desk IANS, 13 Mar, 2023 10:44 AM
  • UK cuts diplomatic jobs in countries like India, Pak, China: Report

London, March 13 (IANS) British-based diplomatic posts for key Indo-Pacific countries like India, Pakistan and China have been cut by up to 50 per cent in recent years, according to new government figures.

Despite being identified as key places to deepen ties with over the coming decade, staff members of embassies and consulates in Pakistan, China and India have all been diminishing over the last seven years, the Guardian reported.

According to the report, the number of British-based Foreign Office staff was between 110 and 119 in the Pakistan embassy and consulate.

This fell to 50-59, a cut equivalent to about 50 per cent.

Over the same timeframe, the number of British-based Foreign Office staff was cut from 70-79 to 40-49 in the past seven years in India.

The figures shared by the Guardian came from the Foreign Office minister David Rutley, in response to written parliamentary questions by the Labour frontbencher Catherine West.

The figures also showed a reduction in the number of trips by ministers to these countries.

The Foreign Office and international development department conducted 37 ministerial trips to the Indo-Pacific region in 2018, with some countries being visited more than once a year.

However, by 2022, the number of ministerial trips conducted was less than a third of that, with just 12 recorded, the Guardian reported.

A Foreign Office spokesperson told the Guardian that these numbers do not give an "accurate picture" of Britain's presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The reduction in headcount of UK-based staff in China and India is partly due to Covid and how the UK spends its overseas development budget, the Guardian was told.

Citing evidence of the UK's growing influence in the region, the spokesperson told the Guardian that there was a boost of 16.4 per cent in trade with the Indo-Pacific year-on-year from autumn 2021 to 2022.

MORE International ARTICLES

After Patel's death, another Indian-origin retailer's store targeted in NZ

After Patel's death, another Indian-origin retailer's store targeted in NZ
Close on the heels of dairy worker Jayesh Patel's fatal stabbing in Auckland last week, an Indian-origin store owner was targeted in New Zealand, and his staff was attacked by four young men. 

After Patel's death, another Indian-origin retailer's store targeted in NZ

5 dead, 25 injured in US nightclub shooting, suspect held

5 dead, 25 injured in US nightclub shooting, suspect held
At least five people were killed and 25 others injured when a gunman, currently in police custody, opened fire inside a gay nightclub in the US state of Colorado, authorities said. The first officer arrived at midnight and the suspect, identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was detained two minutes later. 

5 dead, 25 injured in US nightclub shooting, suspect held

Indian-origin man jailed for cheating Football Association of Singapore

Indian-origin man jailed for cheating Football Association of Singapore
Shankar Suppiah, 45, who admitted to five counts of cheating, was the sole proprietor of All Resource Network (ARN), which has specialised in event management and the sale of sporting and recreational goods since 2017. At the time of the offences, ARN was a supplier of the FAS, which is Singapore's governing body for football and is responsible for advancing the sport here and managing the national team. 

Indian-origin man jailed for cheating Football Association of Singapore

5 Indian-Americans selected for Rhodes Scholarship 2023

5 Indian-Americans selected for Rhodes Scholarship 2023
Shreyas Hallur, Atharv Gupta, Veer Sangha, Amisha Kambath, and Jupneet Singh are among 32 scholars who will begin their graduate studies at Oxford in October next year. The Rhodes Scholarship is a fully funded, full time graduate fellowship awarded by the University of Oxford since 1903. 

5 Indian-Americans selected for Rhodes Scholarship 2023

Funds raised for Sikh driver 'murdered' in UK

Funds raised for Sikh driver 'murdered' in UK
Singh, 59, a private hire driver working for ABC Cars, was pronounced dead in Nine Elms Lane, Wolverhampton, on October 30 after he was discovered with serious injuries. Tomasz Margol, 35, of Bamford Road was charged with Singh's murder, and produced before the Wolverhampton Crown Court earlier this month.

Funds raised for Sikh driver 'murdered' in UK

Ami Bera re-elected ensuring 5-member Indian-American 'Samosa Caucus' in US Congress

Ami Bera re-elected ensuring 5-member Indian-American 'Samosa Caucus' in US Congress
The longest-serving Indian American in Congress, Bera was declared winner on Tuesday night even as the counting of votes was continuing in his California House district a week after the November 8 election. A doctor, Bera, 57, was first elected to Congress in 2012.

Ami Bera re-elected ensuring 5-member Indian-American 'Samosa Caucus' in US Congress