Close X
Friday, November 29, 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

Taliban gunmen checking mobile phones of Kabul residents

Taliban gunmen checking mobile phones of Kabul residents
Residents of Kabul complain that gunmen linked to the Taliban government have lately been checking their mobile phones, thus violating their privacy, Pajhwok News reported. Concerned at the unwarranted checks, they said the practice amounts to trampling on human rights and respect for their privacy.

Taliban gunmen checking mobile phones of Kabul residents

Omicron variant reminds that Covid is far from over: WHO

Omicron variant reminds that Covid is far from over: WHO
Even as the world is entering a third year into the Covid-19 pandemic, the infectious disease that claimed the lives of more than 5 million people so far is far from over, the WHO said on Monday.

Omicron variant reminds that Covid is far from over: WHO

Jack Dorsey quits as Twitter CEO, announces IIT man Parag Agrawal as successor

Jack Dorsey quits as Twitter CEO, announces IIT man Parag Agrawal as successor
Jack Dorsey, the maverick behind making Twitter the world's go-to social platform to rant, laud, troll or play simple catch up, is moving on. Indian-American Parag Agrawal, Twitter @paraga, is the new CEO, with immediate effect, Dorsey announced.

Jack Dorsey quits as Twitter CEO, announces IIT man Parag Agrawal as successor

Stores kick off Black Friday but pandemic woes linger

Stores kick off Black Friday but pandemic woes linger
Retailers are expected to usher in the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season Friday with bigger crowds than last year in a closer step toward normalcy. But the fallout from the pandemic continues to weigh on businesses and shoppers' minds.

Stores kick off Black Friday but pandemic woes linger

EXPLAINER: What is this new COVID variant in South Africa?

EXPLAINER: What is this new COVID variant in South Africa?
Maybe. As of noon Friday, travelers arriving in the U.K. from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini and Zimbabwe will have to self-isolate for 10 days. European Union nations also moved quickly on Friday to try to stop air travel from southern Africa.

EXPLAINER: What is this new COVID variant in South Africa?

Telangana youth dies in road accident in US

Telangana youth dies in road accident in US
His family has appealed to the Indian government to help in bringing his body home. According to delayed information reaching his family members, Mandali Shekhar (28) died when a speeding car hit him at Ellicott City in Maryland state on November 19.

Telangana youth dies in road accident in US