The Prime Minister met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi today at COP26.

They agreed that Glasgow must be a pivotal moment for countries to deliver real action on coal, cars, cash and trees, looking ahead to Egypt’s Presidency of COP27 next year. The leaders also discussed the importance of all countries transitioning to renewable energy.

More widely, they reiterated their commitment to deepening cooperating between the United Kingdom and Egypt on security, defence, education and trade.

Prime Minister and President Sisi agreed to work together closely at COP26 and beyond to secure ambitious change on climate change and ensure the benefits of green technology and growth are felt around the world.

The Prime Minister met with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo today in Glasgow.

He reiterated the importance that the United Kingdom places on building a strong strategic partnership with Indonesia, across climate, defence, trade and investment.

The Prime Minister welcomed Indonesia’s domestic climate action and leadership at COP26, including on protecting forests.

They discussed how the UK and Indonesia could cooperate more closely on the transition to renewable energy and development of sustainable infrastructure, including through the UK’s new Clean Green Initiative.

The leaders also agreed to intensify cooperation across a range of shared priorities on diplomacy and prosperity, including through ASEAN.

They Prime Minister offered the UK’s full support to Indonesia for their G20 Presidency, and looked forward to working together on building back better and greener globally.

The Prime Minister met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India at COP26 in Glasgow today.

The leaders welcomed the opportunity to meet in person and highlighted the growing strength of the wider United Kingdom-India relationship.

The Prime Minster highlighted India’s leadership on climate change and they discussed ways to work together on global approaches, including scaling affordable green technology. Prime Minister Modi welcomed the new UK India Green Guarantee to unlock World Bank funding.

The Prime Minister hoped to see India submit an ambitious emissions reduction target at COP26, as a key player in the international effort to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. He offered the UK’s support as India transitions away from coal to renewable energy.

They agreed to further strengthen cooperation on bilateral defence and security and on international issues, including the situation in Afghanistan.

The leaders also discussed recent talks on a potential UK-India free trade deal, and the Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s commitment to deepening trade, investment and business ties between our two countries.

The D&I Strategy and Action Plan strategy sets out how the Profession will deliver equality through diversity and inclusivity, which is a key theme of the 2021 GSE Profession Strategy. The detail within the strategy reinforces the Profession’s commitment to fully representing the community that it serves.

A key element of the strategy is the use of tools such as the Returners’ Pack, which promotes the development of returners’ programmes to attract the return of talented individuals. Following the launch of the D&I Strategy, the GSE Profession will make a number of improvements as suggested by its members to facilitate diversity and inclusion. The Profession aims to monitor the strategy’s progress by regularly engaging with its member groups to seek feedback.

GSE Profession Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement

The strategy has been developed in collaboration with the GSE Diversity and Inclusion Action Group (DIAG), alongside other GSE members and stakeholders where possible. Working with these groups, the Profession has developed a new diversity and inclusion mission statement to support its strategy:

The Government Science and Engineering Profession values the diversity of science and engineering skills found in government. It is a profession where everybody’s STEM talent or interest is nurtured and celebrated, delivering world class science and engineering.

The GSE Profession Diversity & Inclusion Action Group

The GSE Profession DIAG continues to lead on work to progress towards greater inclusivity. Its recent successes include increasing its volunteer members over the summer, establishing task and finish groups to manage upcoming challenges and appointing learning and development champions to ensure members have equal access to opportunities and fair outcomes.

Read more about the GSE Profession’s successes.

Read the full GSE Profession D&I Strategy.

If you have any questions about the strategy or wish to be involved in the Profession, please email gse@go-science.gov.uk.

Advocacy

Dr Vicki Chalker, Head of Science and Engineering Profession, UK Health Security Agency and Chair of the GSE Profession’s DIAG has outlined the importance of this strategy:

I am proud to work with the GSE Profession on improved diversity and inclusion in scientific and engineering. We should all do all that we can to ensure good practice is embedded, growing the huge breadth of talent in Science and Engineering in government, inspiring current and future generations to have rewarding careers of importance for the nation.