On April 25 and 26 United Kingdom Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan and United States Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai hosted the second UK-U.S. Dialogue on the Future of Atlantic Trade in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Dialogue follows Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Biden’s announcement last year of a new ‘Atlantic Charter’ and builds on the successful inaugural Trade Dialogue in Baltimore earlier in March.

Secretary of State Trevelyan and Ambassador Tai agreed to collaborate further on: delivering practical support for SMEs, digitising UK-U.S. trade in the modern economy, building resilience in critical supply chains, addressing the global trade impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, promoting environmental protection and the transition to net zero, supporting high labour and environmental standards, and promoting innovation and inclusive economic growth for workers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.

Over the two days, Secretary of State Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Ambassador Katherine Tai hosted a series of roundtable discussions with a diverse group of stakeholders from the UK and U.S. business community, trade unions and civil society, in addition to bilateral discussions between UK and U.S. officials.

Drawing on the stakeholder discussions and bilateral talks in Aberdeen and Baltimore, Secretary of State Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Ambassador Katherine Tai directed their teams to work at pace over the next several weeks to develop an ambitious roadmap with economically meaningful outcomes, including in the areas of:

Supporting SMEs to trade – Support and enhance UK-U.S. SME trade, by collaborating to identify and overcome barriers to trade, focusing on trade facilitation for SMEs, sharing and promoting best practice, and working together on activities to promote and support SMEs, including those owned by under-represented groups and women entrepreneurs, and those in disadvantaged communities. We intend to harness the June UK-U.S. SME Dialogue in Boston to help achieve these objectives.

Harnessing the benefits of digital trade – Advance outcomes in digital trade that benefit businesses, including SMEs, workers and consumers by supporting the digitalisation of trading systems and transactions. The UK and U.S. will also seek to build on the G7 Digital Trade Principles.

Levelling up and worker-centric trade – Work to develop more durable and inclusive trade policies that demonstrate that trade can be a force for good and create more opportunities for people and gender equity across the UK and U.S. Support the protection of labour rights and tackle forced labour globally.

Supporting resilient supply chains – Collaborate on promoting critical supply chain resilience to help ensure strong and robust supply chains, bringing together expertise from both our nations.

Food security – Support open, predictable, rules-based agricultural trade to mitigate supply chain disruptions and restore global food security imperilled by Russian aggression in Ukraine. Continue to cooperate closely through the current crisis and other issues impacting agricultural supply chains, to help ensure more resilient, efficient and sustainable food systems against future shocks, and to promote the availability of safe, affordable foods for consumers worldwide.

Supporting the environment and climate action – Deepen cooperation on trade and the environment, with work to promote decarbonising our economies consistent with COP26 outcomes, exchanging information, and developing joint approaches to environment and trade, supporting businesses, green jobs and the growth of low-carbon economies.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

The UK and the U.S. stand with Ukraine and its people in the face of the Russian President Putin’s unprovoked, premeditated attack against the sovereign nation of Ukraine. In coordination with their allies and partners, the UK and the U.S. have already adopted unprecedented economic and financial sanctions against Russia, and they stand ready to increase the economic pressure to help bring this war to an end. Ministers agreed that their officials would remain closely coordinated, and they will encourage other international partners, including the G7 and other WTO Members, to take action in support of Ukraine’s economic recovery.

Organisations attending Aberdeen dialogue:

• American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
• Beam Suntory
• British Chambers of Commerce
• BritishAmerican Business
• Brown-Forman
• City of London Corporation
• Coalition for a Digital Economy
• Confederation of British Industry
• Fearless Tech
• Federation of Small Businesses
• Food and Drink Federation
• Google
• GMB
• Greater Manchester Combined Authority
• IBM
• Liebrich Associates
• MakeUK
• Morgan Stanley
• National Association of Manufacturers
• National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)
• Net Zero Technology Centre
• Pensana
• Prospect
• Scottish Government
• Scottish North American Business Council
• TechUK
• TheCityUK
• Trades Union Congress
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• UK Chamber of Shipping
• UK Fashion and Textile Association
• United Parcel Service

Thank you Chair, Excellencies.

At the 55th Session of the Commission on Population and Development, I am pleased that we have come together to discuss the critical theme of ‘Population and Sustainable Development, in particular, Sustained and Inclusive Economic Growth’.

On behalf of the United Kingdom, I wish to start by thanking you, Mr Chair, and the other members of the Bureau for your leadership. I particularly want to thank El Salvador and the Netherlands for their co-facilitation of this year’s text. The UK has every faith that we will achieve a consensus outcome under their able leadership.

We all know that sustained and inclusive economic growth can only be realised when all women, adolescents and girls have their full human rights respected, protected and fulfilled, including comprehensive sexual and reproductive rights. The human rights of women, adolescents and girls in all their diversity include the right to have control over and to decide freely and responsibly on all matters related to their sexuality, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.

We must do more to ensure that these rights are protected, particularly in humanitarian contexts and for those who are most marginalised and face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.

There is still such a long way to go to achieve this. There are 121 million pregnancies annually that are unintended according to UNFPAs most recent report. Most of these unintended pregnancies end in abortion, and 45% of all these abortions are unsafe – many tragically leading to death.

And we are going in the wrong direction. The situation is compounded by the rise of anti-gender movements, the devastating impact of the pandemic and other legal, economic, and social barriers that women, adolescents, and girls are facing, including global conflict, which further limit access to contraception, safe abortion and health services.

Member States must act now to ensure women, adolescents and girls around the world can access quality and comprehensive sexual and reproductive services, including safe abortion, key to unlocking their agency and potential and contributing to sustainable economic growth. Member States should also prioritise strengthening health systems, committing to Universal Health coverage and exploring the use of innovative delivery models like telemedicine to improve access to and to achieve the full realisation of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The right to inclusive, equitable and quality education is equally central to achieving more sustainable development.

We cannot say often enough that education improves women and girl’s lifetime earnings, helps with poverty alleviation, and brings economic benefits to households.

Now too many girls are not returning to school after the Covid-lockdowns, which have led to increasing rates of teenage pregnancy. But we want to stress that education must include evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education so that adolescents and youth are empowered to make their own informed decisions about their health, well-being and lives.

As we look to ICPD 30 in 2024, the UK is committed to using our position to listen to and amplify the voices of women, adolescents, and girls and those most marginalised, empowering them as decision-makers, advocates, and leaders, which is especially pertinent to next year’s important theme of education at the Commission on Population and Development. Thank you Chair, Excellencies for your time.

The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) Peru has announced six innovative low-carbon projects that will support access to finance from investors following a call for proposals that attracted 40 applications. The CFA is part of the UK Government’s efforts to support Peru tackle climate change through the UK International Climate Finance.

Projects come from the energy, forest, ecotourism, and waste management sectors and include activities to increase reforested areas in Peru, develop innovative ecotourism experiences and improve production systems using solar energy.

To ensure the selected projects are in the best position to attract investment from Peruvian and international financiers, the projects will receive capacity building support in areas such as blending finance from public and private sources, developing financial models and preparing pitch material, as well as advice on enhancing gender, equality and social inclusion. If they secure funding in the future, in addition to their climate change mitigation outcomes, the projects will benefit communities across Peru through pollution abatement, employment opportunities, increased energy efficiency, improved public transportation, and by supporting gender equality and social inclusion.

By bringing together stakeholders who can develop and finance climate projects at scale, the CFA will support Peru’s efforts to meet its commitment under the Glasgow Pact, agreed at COP26 in November 2021, to help keep global warming to within 1.5°C.

The British Chargé d’affaires to Peru, Peter Clements said:

“The UK is proud to support Peru’s efforts to address climate change and the Climate Finance Accelerator is a great opportunity to do so. At COP26, we could see Peru’s appetite for tackling climate change through increased NDC targets and by joining alliances to protect forests. This cohort of projects will drive innovation in key sectors such as energy, ecotourism and waste management. We cannot wait to see the outcomes.”

Libelula CFA Project Lead Peru, Katherine Bocanegra, said:

“We are excited to be working alongside these six projects to strengthen their capacity and help increase their chances of finding investment. CFA support will bring projects and financiers together, generating benefits not only for the individual projects, but in the longer term also for Peru’s economy as it builds a climate compatible future.”

Technical Director CFA Programme Peru, Florian Eickhold of SouthSouthNorth said:

“Time matters! The CFA programme aims to accelerate the final phase of financial closure for already advanced low-carbon projects from a wide range of sectors. This “last mile facilitation” speeds up the implementation of NDCs and helps build the ground for more ambition. I hope financial institutions and project developers are inspired by the CFA process to replicate viable solutions at scale. Every effort is needed to rapidly close the emission gap towards the global goal of 1.5 degrees.”

The projects have started receiving tailored support ahead of a multi-day event that will be held in May 2022. Support that the projects have received so far has included individual needs assessment discussions as well as financial and technical analysis. The event will allow project proponents to further refine their financial structuring through discussions with interested financial institutions. The event will also provide an opportunity for all participants to network and for policymakers and other initiatives in the climate finance space to learn from the landscape mapping findings and recommendations. The CFA projects include:

• Carbon Turnaround: An innovative project for the treatment of organic waste using the Black Soldier Fly technology. Organic waste will be recovered and transformed into insect protein and an organic fertilizer with high nutritional value. Based in Lima, it is managed in partnership with Christof Industries and Grupo GEA.
• Grupo Alimenta: Lifesoil™ is our regenerative fertilizer, developed to nourish the soil and crops in a balanced way. Replacing mineral fertilizers with Lifesoil™ does not require additional costs and allows the soil to capture 30 tons of CO2/Ha. We aim to build a network of plants and capture three million tons of CO2.
• Marinasol: Installation of floating solar panels within the sedimentation ponds of a shrimp farm, generating renewable energy and contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gases.
• Novum Solar: The project aims to develop, build and operate several hybrid energy generation systems (solar, battery and backup diesel) to supply electricity for isolated communities in the Peruvian Amazon. Currently powered by diesel, the communities will have a reliable supply of energy 24/7 and there will be a reduction of 530,000 tons of CO2.
• Rainforest Expeditions and ACCA: This ecotourism project will protect primary forest and reduce CO2 emissions. It will raise awareness among the local population and 35,000-40,000 visitors a year of the need for conservation and the realities of climate change by providing employment and education.
• Viridis Terra Perú SA: This project will create a demonstration and training centre where up to 1,300 people a year will be taught how to restore degraded land, a biotechnology laboratory with the capacity to produce 1.5 million seedlings a year, a solid forest plantation of 1500 hectares, and a natural conservation area of approximately 300 hectares.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Carmen Noriega Head of Communications at the British Embassy in Lima Carmen.noriega@fcdo.gov.uk

Notes to editors:

• UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS): The CFA is funded by International Climate Finance in BEIS. BEIS is the UK government department responsible for business, industrial strategy, science, research and innovation, energy, clean growth and climate change.
• UK International Climate Finance is the UK government’s commitment to support developing countries to respond to climate change. The UK has committed to spend at least £11.6 billion of International Climate Finance between 2021 and 2025. This is the UK’s contribution to the developed country goal of mobilising $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020, which underpins the Paris Agreement.
• The local delivery partners for CFA Peru are Libélula and SouthSouthNorth.
• Libélula is a consulting firm founded in 2007 in Peru that specializes in climate change management and communication. Libélula works closely with a wide range of public and private actors at local, regional and international level to identify risks and opportunities in the face of climate change in order to inspire and deliver solutions at all levels towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and climate resilient future.
• SouthSouthNorth supports national and regional responses to climate change through policy and knowledge interventions, partnerships and deep collaboration, connecting people and information, enhancing capacity and mobilizing resources to respond in innovative ways to the challenges and opportunities that climate change presents.
• The global CFA programme is delivered by PwC UK, in collaboration with Ricardo Energy & Environment.

• Minister for Africa Vicky Ford has announced a £25 million aid package for Somalia, supporting almost a million people.
• Somalia facing prospect of widespread famine, with 350,000 children’s lives at risk if no action is taken.
• Ford did a virtual visit to Baidoa in Somalia yesterday [Monday] and announced new funding at UN event in Geneva today.

Minister for Africa Vicky Ford has announced a new £25 million aid package to provide vital services to almost a million people across the country, including food and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) support, as the country teeters on the brink of widespread famine.

Speaking at a roundtable event organised by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ford announced the package of lifesaving food, water, nutrition and emergency health support and called on other international donors to step up.

After three failed rainy seasons, approximately half the population require life-saving aid due to the ongoing drought. Forecasts suggest a fourth failed rain is likely. The UN estimate that there are pockets of famine in the county now, with more than one million people on the edge.

The Minister also announced a groundbreaking partnership with Qatar, which will see the Qatari government invest $1.5 million with the UK towards the emergency response and resilience-building in Somalia.

Minister for Africa Vicky Ford said:

We should be in no doubt of what will happen if we fail to support the people of Somalia – 350,000 children will die and many more will have their lives ruined.

The UK is stepping up our support with an additional £25 million, taking our support to almost £40 million in 2022 alone. It will mean life-saving food, water and healthcare support for more than a million people.

After a quarter of a million people needlessly died from hunger in Somalia in 2011, we said never again. Now is the time for the international community to fulfill that commitment and stand with the people of Somalia.

Yesterday [25 April], the Minister conducted a virtual visit to Baidoa in Somalia where the UK is supporting almost 120,000 people with food and water support. She met with representatives from the Norwegian Refugee Council, a UK partner on the ground, and heard from communities affected.

Norwegian Refugee Council’s Somalia Country Director, Mohamed Abdi said:

The scale of the crisis in Somalia, and the level of human suffering, is truly staggering. More than three-quarters of a million people have been forced to flee their homes, millions more face life-threatening food and water shortages, and people are on the brink of famine.

To avert a tragedy and save lives the world must act now – Somalia requires a massive injection of support.

A perfect storm of events is behind the current situation in Somalia. Extreme weather events associated with climate change are ruining harvests. Poor governance and conflict across the country continue to displace vulnerable communities, destroy livelihoods and limit access to humanitarian assistance.

Driven in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Somali people have also faced sharp rises in the price of rice by almost 15%, the price of oil by 40% and the price of wheat by 45%.

The food insecurity crisis extends across the Horn of Africa. Some 14 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are at risk of severe hunger and water shortages.

The Minister witnessed the impact of the crisis in the region first-hand on a visit to Kenya and Ethiopia earlier this year. The UK Government committed an initial £14.5 million of support for Somalia earlier this year, which is expected to support almost 500,000 people to access clean water and afford food supplies.