Sziasztok!

My name is Steve Fisher.  I am the Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy - this means the Ambassador's deputy.  This is my first attempt at writing a bulletin - I just hope it's not boring.  If you have already fallen asleep please stop reading now!

This week the Ambassador has been away from Budapest so I have been deputising for him as "Charge d'Affaires".  Diplomatic life is full of such archaic jargon (e.g. I am a "First Secretary", "Head of Chancery" and - this week at least - "Charge d'Affaires").  The Head of the Foreign Ministry in the British system is known as the "Permanent Secretary".  On one occasion a Permanent Secretary was visiting China, where his hosts translated his job title as "eternal typist".  As well as using old-fasioned jargon, diplomats often stray into French too - hence "Charge d'Affaires".  Ambassadors refer to one another, traditionally at least, as "mes chers collegues".  Of course there's nothing wrong with straying into French - particularly if you happen to be French, or are in a country where French is spoken.  It is one of the great world lang uages, and a traditional language used throughout the world by diplomats.  But I mention the point about jargon and use of strange foreign terms to illustrate a serious point about the work of diplomats. It's not as mysterious as many people think.   This air of mystery is exaggerated by the jargon we use to describe ourselves.  In fact our job is quite simple:

• we provide services to certain groups of people (British citizens abroad, people that require visas to visit UK, British companies who wish to export or invest overseas, foreign investors who wish to invest in Britain).
• we represent British interests and promote British ideas about global and foreign policy issues, trying to get other governments to agree with us as far as possible
• we find out about the views of the country in which we are posted, and report back to our colleagues in London on Hungarian policies.

Still awake?

This week I have met two Government Ministers - Defence and Health.  Both meetings were set up for groups of Ambassadors.  The meeting with the Defence Minister was very interesting from a British perspective.  We have much in common with Hungary in terms of security and defence policy, in the Balkans and the Middle East, for example. The UK supports further EU and NATO enlargement, in order to extend the zone of stability and prosperity into South Eastern Europe.  We believe that Croatia, Macedonia and Albania are now ready to join NATO and should be invited to do so at next week's NATO Summit in Bucharest.  And we encourage the EU membership aspirations of Croatia, Turkey and other regional countries.  We believe that The EU must continue to develop its Common Foreign and Security policy capacity, and continue to take responsibility for exerting a positive influence in its neighbourhood and beyond.  Recently th e issue of Kosovo's independence has been top of the EU's foreign policy agenda.  The UK shares Hungary's view that it is important to promote stability and tolerance in a united Kosovo, avoiding de facto partition, whilst encouraging Serbia to work towards eventual EU membership.  Serbia could make a huge step forward by helping deliver suspected war criminals to the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia.  And UK, as a member of NATO, is committed to bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan.  It is vital for our peace and security that we deny the Taliban extremists the opportunity to re-establish their operational base in that country.  We are equally committed to helping the Iraqi government establish a working democracy in that country. Hungary too is playing its part in both places.

It was very interesting, a week before the important summit in Bucharest, to hear the Defence Minister setting out Hungary's ambitions for that meeting and his longer term vision on the main security issues facing NATO.  Of course it is not for me, in this bulletin, to report what was said by the Minister.  But suffice to say that I was able to write a useful report following the meeting!

The meeting with the Health Minister was equally interesting.  Health Reform is obviously a very sensitive subject in Hungary these days, and the work of an Embassy includes keeping up with the important political issues of the day. So the EU Ambassadors were very grateful to the Minister for giving her views on the proposed health sector insurance reform.  Of course, it is not the job of an Embassy to take sides in the domestic political debate in a given country.  We must remain strictly neutral.  We certainly do not have a preference for which democratically elected party governs in Hungary or in any other democratic country.  Where we do have a legitimate interest in domestic matters is when UK investors or citizens are affected by legislation or the behaviour of a host government or authorities.  In Hungary we are very interested in the transparency agenda - we encourage the government in its campaign against corruption and we warmly welcomed the recent Transparency International Report which contained a useful set of recommendations.

Feeling tired yet?  Stop, pull over, take a short walk, drink coffee...!

Part of the job of the Deputy Head of Mission is to maintain an overview of the work of the Embassy, helping the Ambassador to ensure that we are moving forward in all the right directions.  We have a  plan which sets out our goals - the so-called "Country Business Plan".  I have been heavily involved in drawing up this plan, but lots of our British and Hungarian staff were involved in putting this plan together.  Every member of the Embassy has seen the final product in full.  We have no secrets from one another within the Embassy, and we insist on high standards of respect for one another.  This is all part of trying to keep morale high and build teamwork.  Because I am involved, directly or indirectly, in almost all of the Embassy's activities my work is both interesting and - at times - demanding.  But I like this.  I particularly enjoy encouraging other staff to follow through their own ideas, or to find ways to develop themselves through travel or training.  In recent weeks I have played a small part in helping to realise a brilliant project which has been the work of our Public Diplomacy Section - this is an exhibition of photographs depicting the life of Muslims in Britain.  It is open to the public for 2 weeks from 1 April.  Please come along!  I have also encouraged another very good idea which emerged this week  - to set up a private showing of the Leonardo di Caprio documentary "The 11th Hour" at a Budapest cinema in order to promote the important theme of environmental protection.  We were approached by a company which has the rights to the DVD.  The idea of a private showing was the suggestion of the Ambassador's Personal Assistant - which shows that in this Embassy everyone is encouraged to contribute suggestions. Someone else can perhaps write more about the 11th Hour in a later bulletin on this site  - we hope to screen it close to World Earth Day in April.

Surely not still awake?

I have written enough, and at least 30 emails have arrived in my inbox in the time it has taken to type this.  If I don't stop now I won't have time to delete them all before lunch. Talking of lunch.....a final word about food.

In 1604 Sir Henry Wootton was sent to Venice as British Ambassador.  En route (on horseback through Germany) he wrote that "An Ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country". This has at least two meanings - the key to which is the word "lie" (there are actually three meanings if we take the Old Testament sense of "lie" into account, but let's not!).  Actually I think Sir Henry was wrong.  The modern diplomat is an honest man or woman sent abroad not to lie, but rather to gossip and eat for their country.  I have enjoyed two very pleasant National Day celebrations this week - those of Pakistan and Greece.  The food and the company at both events was excellent!

Now even I am asleep.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Steve Fisher

Deputy Head of Mission
28 March 2008