Embassy high-level contacts visited the exhibition of 80 watercolours created by the great British artist, which is taking place at La Moneda Cultural Center.

On the occasion of the exhibition ‘J.M.W. Turner. Watercolours. Tate Collection’, which will be open at La Moneda Cultural Centre until 28 July, the Embassy in Santiago, in conjunction with the British Council, the British Chilean Chamber of Commerce and the British Institute, organised the screening of the film ‘Mr. Turner’, directed by Mike Leigh and featuring Timothy Spall in the main role as Mr. Turner. After the film, the guests were invited to a private tour of the marvelous work of this British artist, originally sitting at Tate Britain.

Embassy’ high-level contacts, including Government representatives, businesspersons, artists and members of the academia, attended this exhibition, which was also the perfect occasion to celebrate the 102nd Anniversary of the British-Chilean Chamber of Commerce and the 80th Anniversary of the British Institute. Launched in March with the presence of Tate Britain’s Curator and Director of International Exhibitions, this is the first time that Tate is coming to Chile, and a perfect occasion to display 80 watercolours of this great British painter.

GREAT Campaign

The exhibition ‘J.M.W. Turner. Watercolours. Tate Collection’ in Chile have received support from the GREAT campaign, a cross-Government initiative aimed to showcase the best of the UK and encourage people to visit, do business, invest and study in the UK. It is the Government’s most ambitious international promotional campaign ever, uniting the efforts of the private and public sectors to generate jobs and growth for Britain.

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Theresa May will today urge stronger cooperation between governments and tech companies to stop terrorists from being able to ‘broadcast their atrocities in real time’ on the internet.

In her intervention at the G20 Summit’s session on Innovation, Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence, the Prime Minister will say that governments need to learn lessons from previous attacks, including the Christchurch shootings.

She will urge close collaboration between Government security officials and social media and technology companies to prevent terrorist exploitation of the internet.

The PM will highlight a new crisis response mechanism which is being developed by technology companies and supported by the UK and others as part of the Christchurch Call.

This will ensure that companies have established networks of “online first responders”, who are directly linked to those at the heart of international governments’ Counter-Terrorism units and law enforcement agencies.

These connections will allow companies to more rapidly stop the spread of terrorist or violent extremist content following any attack in coordination with each other.

The crisis hotline would be used, for example, to share “digital fingerprints” which allow companies to prevent the re-upload of existing terrorist content on to their platforms.

The PM will also stress the need for continued development of technology to address terrorists’ abuse of live-streaming, which has a devastating impact on victims’ families and communities.

Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to say:

We should do all we can to bring the best minds together across industry to develop technology to tackle the misuse of live-streaming. We’ve seen the damage when terrorists can advertise into people’s homes – now we mustn’t let them broadcast their atrocities in real time.

The PM will say that, most urgently, governments and industry must work quickly to establish the crisis response mechanism – building on what was started through the Global Internet Forum to Counter-Terrorism.

GIFCT was created in the aftermath of the Westminster terror attack. The companies involved – Facebook, Google, Twitter and Microsoft – are already making use of technology to automatically remove terrorist propaganda.

GIFCT has already worked with over 100 smaller platforms. The PM will say we now need to see tools and expertise being shared with others to build the capacity of industry to tackle terrorist content online.

The Prime Minister is expected to say:

There are no easy answers but I am sure that by combining different methodologies to detect illegal and harmful content we will be able to find an approach that severely limits terrorists ability to live-stream. In the UK we are encouraging social media companies to develop these techniques at pace. Others should do the same.

The Prime Minister’s intervention at the G20 will build on the “Christchurch Call To Action”, which world leaders signed at the Online Extremism Summit in Paris earlier this year.

The 1.5 million copies of the video of the sickening Christchurch attacks had been removed by Facebook, but could still be found on YouTube for as long as eight hours after it was first posted. Similarly, the 2017 attacks in the UK exposed gaps in our response and underlined the need to rapidly address this issue.

The Prime Minister has announced the UK’s first ever tourism sector deal today, reaffirming the UK’s global role as a key player in the industry.

The new deal will revolutionise the way data is used by the sector, through the creation of new Tourism Data Hub. The hub will collate regularly updated data showing the latest trends and spends, allowing businesses to better target overseas visitors.

The deal will also support the creation of an additional 10,000 apprenticeships for people building their careers in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Last year around 38 million people visited the UK, contributing £23 billion to the local economy. By 2025 experts predict that there will be an additional 9 million visitors to the UK. The new deal commits to building an additional 130,000 hotel rooms to respond to the increased demand for infrastructure.

The deal also outlines the government’s ambitions for the UK to become the most accessible destination for disabled visitors, through improvement of disabled facilities and access to destinations across the country.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

As one of the most visited countries in the world, the UK is a world leader in international tourism and it is crucial that we remain globally competitive to meet growing demands.

That’s why today I am pleased to announce the UK’s first ever tourism sector deal, ensuring that we continue to innovate, boost connectivity and economic productivity, expand career pathways and break down barriers for visitors with disabilities.

This deal recognises the important role tourism plays, and will continue to play, in showcasing what our great country has to offer.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said:

Today we have set out our vision for the future of UK tourism – a commitment to an industry that is vital for the prosperity of our communities, our businesses and our economy.

The UK is one of the world’s greatest destinations and this deal recognises the importance of maximising our natural assets. We are dedicated to supporting life-long careers for those that work in tourism, offering insightful data to help grow businesses and ultimately creating a better visitor experience throughout the UK.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

Tourism is one of our most valuable industries and it plays a vital role in our economy, with nearly two million people employed in the communities across the country and £23 billion pounds spent by visitors in the UK last year.

As part of today’s ground-breaking Deal, new Tourism Zones will deliver a direct boost to holiday destinations across the country, helping create new jobs as well as supporting improvements in transport connections.

This is one of the many ways in which the Deal will be key in building a world-class experience economy, helping us deliver on the ambition we set out in our modern Industrial Strategy; Government and industry working hand-in-hand to build on our exceptional strengths in this sector, boosting productivity and further increasing the UK’s attractiveness as a holiday destination.

Other commitments in the Tourism Sector Deal include:

• more than 130,000 new hotel rooms are set to be built across the UK, with 75% being built outside of London. £250,000 to improve broadband connectivity in conferences centres across the UK for business visitors

• pilot of up to five new Tourism Zones to drive visitor numbers across the country. Zones will receive Government support for growing their local visitor economy, through initiatives like targeted support for product and promotion development, mentoring support to businesses and digital skills training

• 10,000 employees in the sector to benefit from new mentorship schemes

• a new government strategy to grow the number of Business Events and Conferences, helping to drive off-season visitors

• developed in partnership with the British Tourist Authority and Industry, the sector deal forms part of the UK Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy supporting the continued growth of the tourism sector, ensuring the UK remains globally competitive as a top tourist destination

British Tourist Authority Chair Steve Ridgway CBE said:

This sector deal is a game-changer for tourism, one of the UK’s most valuable export industries, spelling a step-change in how we underpin the success of tourism for a generation, moving it to the top table as a leading industry for the UK Government’s future economic planning.

And it is a game-changer for the economy, growing the value of the industry and employment in tourism, fixing issues from skills and productivity to extending the season year-round, building stronger tourism destinations up and down the country and developing world-class experiences for domestic and international visitors.

Tourism is one of the most fiercely competitive global industries and this deal ensures we can continue to compete internationally as a top destination for visitors, driving major economic growth across the whole of the UK.

Thank you very much Mr President. Thank you to the Special Envoy and your team. The work you do remains absolutely vital, however hard pounding it is on the ground.

I’ll start if I may. Mr. President where the Special Envoy started. We had a big debate about this earlier in the week, so I won’t be rehearsing those points. But I think the fact that the indiscriminate use of force continues ought to worry everybody on the Council. There are violations of the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law going on. I asked a number of questions. Those questions remain unanswered. I look to the Russian General’s Statement. The questions are still unanswered. So I will return to them at the next Humanitarian Briefing. I wanted to, on this particular section, echo what the Special Envoy said: his appeal for all parties to stabilize the situation and implement Resolution 2245, including the nationwide ceasefire. And I think we need to keep that goal right at the forefront of our minds.

I will also take this opportunity to echo the US Representative on what we heard from the Syrian Representative in the Idlib session. We’ve discussed in this Council length of statements and the working methods, so this isn’t the time to rehearse that. But I think Mr President, it does mean that we need another discussion about it. But I did want to pick up on the point about attacking Humanitarian workers; their jobs are dangerous enough. And they do these jobs because recognized institutional services, or a country’s own services, are not able or not willing to help. And therefore, as I said in the earlier session, they deserve our protection as well as our thanks.

Turning to the political process Mr President, I hope the Special Envoy knows that he has the United Kingdom’s full support. We’re very interested in the contact group being able to take place. I think it’s a necessary first step in trying to make faster progress on 2254. So, I hope that all people who the Special Envoy is trying to bring together would approach that in the spirit of constructiveness and good faith. We support his efforts on the UN-led Geneva process. It is the only legitimate forum. We welcome the holding of the meeting in Geneva. It’s necessary, but not sufficient. But we also need progress on the ground, as he said. I hope the G20 will be able to discuss it and find a way forward. None of this is to detract from the fact that we support the political process being Syrian owned and Syrian led with UN facilitation. But I think the Special Envoy is absolutely right to say that progress can’t be made without that sort of facilitation.

I think there still is a very big question about the Syrian government’s commitment to the political process. Because month after month, we see the prevarications on the Constitutional Committee continue. If progress can’t be made, then I really do agree with the US representative, and would encourage you Special Envoy – and in fact you alluded to this yourself – to try other routes to achieving the political solution set out in Resolution 2254.

We have become – for good reason – we’ve all become very focused on the Constitutional Committee. But the bigger prize is Resolution 2254 and this includes preparing for nationwide elections observed by the UN, securing the release of detainees and establishing the nationwide ceasefire. And I just wanted to note, that unless there is progress on the ground that is meaningful for ordinary citizens, a political process will not prosper. And this means the Syrian government’s stopping the repression throughout the country in former opposition areas that it now controls. It means stopping arbitrary detention, conscription, and discrimination.

We understand Mr President that last week – only last week – the Syrian authorities issued death certificates for over 700 Syrians who died in detention in Hama. And according to reports from Syrians for Truth and Justice, families didn’t receive the bodies of their loved ones nor did they receive information about the circumstances of their death or the location of their burials. So this is a really serious hindrance to the people of Syria being able to have confidence in their own future. And there is a real sense Mr President, that the Syrian authorities are holding their own people to ransom. And it also affects and impacts on conditions for the return of refugees. And it fails to create conditions required for a stable economy. Or say that Syria eventually can become a normal country again, it fails to give people the chance to engage in the decisions that govern their lives. And it fails to give them the right to live those lives free of violence and fear. So once again Mr President let me conclude by appealing to the Syrian authorities to come to the table and engage more speedily, more positively with the Special Envoy.

Thank you.

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