Tag: Foreign Secretary James Cleverly

Gaza Crisis: Cleverly arrives in Saudi Arabia ‘to drive diplomatic efforts’

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has travelled to Saudi Arabia and will hold high-level talks with regional Foreign Ministers

  • Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has travelled to Saudi Arabia after the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Tokyo
  • He will hold high-level talks with regional Foreign Ministers in diplomatic efforts to prevent escalation and work towards a two-state solution
  • He will push for a collective effort to get lifesaving aid into Gaza as quickly as possible, through as many routes as possible.

The Foreign Secretary will reiterate the UK’s commitment to prevent regional escalation to the crisis and increasing the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza on a visit to Saudi Arabia on 9 November.   

James Cleverly will meet with Foreign Ministers from the Middle East, who are gathering in Saudi Arabia ahead of a League of Arab States emergency meeting on Gaza on Saturday.  

He is expected to raise efforts to prevent wider regional escalation, including in Lebanon and Yemen, and offer continued UK support to bolster deterrence and counter threats from malign groups in the region. 

The Foreign Secretary will also discuss initiatives to significantly increase the volume of aid reaching civilians in Gaza, including medicines, fuel and water, and ensure a pipeline of funds and supplies to support the relief effort. He will reaffirm the UK’s support for further humanitarian pauses in the fighting as soon as possible to deliver aid and provide a crucial window for hostages – including British nationals – to be released. 

In his meetings with counterparts, the Foreign Secretary will also reiterate the UK’s condemnation of the rise in settler violence and call for Israel to hold those responsible to account to improve the situation in the West Bank. He will outline the UK’s support for reinvigorating diplomatic efforts towards a achieving a viable two-state solution.  

His visit to Saudi Arabia follows on from his attendance at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting, where attendees agreed on the urgent need to allow humanitarian pauses to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and release of hostages. 

  

The Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly said: “I have been focused on diplomatic efforts to secure the release of hostages, to ensure that foreign nationals can leave Gaza, to deter any escalation regionally and to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid at scale.

“I will continue this essential work in Saudi Arabia where I will meet with a number of my counterparts in the region to explore how we achieve those aims quickly and also look to the future of a lasting, peaceful, and prosperous two-state solution for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

His visit follows the UK’s delivery of vital equipment and lifesaving aid to support civilians in Gaza and a £30 million increase in UK assistance to Occupied Palestinian Territories.    

Since Hamas’ terrorist atrocities on 7 October, UK government ministers have been engaging with countries across the Middle East, as well as the international community.

The Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Defence Secretary have all visited the region in recent weeks to push for lifesaving aid to get into Gaza, support the return of British nationals, prevent dangerous regional escalation and back Israel’s right to self-defence.

Foreign Secretary visits Glasgow 

  • Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited Scotland one year on from COP26 in Glasgow. He went to the University of Strathclyde to meet scientists and engineers developing lower cost, recyclable battery tech
  • UK government funded research aims to improve clean energy access for 25 million of world’s poorest people and save nearly 2.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions
  • Foreign Secretary also visited the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s joint HQ in East Kilbride, which employs almost 1,000 staff in Scotland

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met with scientists and engineers developing revolutionary battery technologies in Glasgow – a year on from world leaders gathering in the city for the COP26 climate summit.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is supporting the Faraday Institution and researchers from the University of Strathclyde and the University of St Andrews, through its Transforming Energy Access (TEA) programme to help offer lower cost, more recyclable battery technology to developing countries.

The UK government announced £126 million of new scale-up funding for TEA during Energy Day at COP26 – focused on reducing carbon emissions by 2.5 million tonnes and securing better access to clean energy for 25 million people.

Since TEA was launched in 2015, it has provided 16 million of the world’s poorest people with improved access to clean energy and generated 96,000 green jobs.

The Foreign Secretary also visited the FCDO’s joint HQ at Abercrombie House, in East Kilbride, where almost 1,000 staff are at the heart of shaping and delivering UK foreign policy on issues such as climate change, including through the TEA programme.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “Today’s visit is hugely important for me, to see first-hand how people in Scotland are building on the legacy of the UK’s COP Presidency in Glasgow to make progress in the fight against climate change.

“Scotland is famous as an innovation superpower. It has given the world the television, telephone and penicillin, so it was wonderful to learn how Scottish scientists are continuing this rich tradition to develop the revolutionary new batteries of the future fuelled by cleaner energy.

“The UK government is proud to support vital work at the universities of Strathclyde and St Andrews which will help developing countries to access battery technologies to drive green growth and give millions a ladder out of poverty.”

Nearly a tenth of the world’s population – 733 million people – do not have access to the electricity they need to light their homes, refrigerate their food, or keep cool in rising temperatures. Around 2.4 billion people rely on dirty biomass fuels such as charcoal, firewood, or animal waste for cooking.

The Foreign Secretary used his COP26 anniversary visit to witness the start of refurbishment work at the FCDO’s joint HQ in East Kilbride.

The Foreign Secretary was shown a research project led by the University of Strathclyde, which is developing a low-cost battery which is expected to last longer and be more easily recycled.

St Andrews demonstrated battery technology made from common salt, which could enable a move away from materials such as lithium and cobalt which are more expensive, rarer and harder on the environment to source.

Both technologies are expected to be ready to test this year.