The alliance is based on the mutual aim of supporting outstanding individuals to build their dream careers and contribute to the development of Honduras.

Chevening Scholarships are the UK government’s global scholarship programme that aims to developing global leaders through awarding scholarships to outstanding emerging leaders, in order for them to pursue a one-year Master’s degree at any UK university.

With the support of the Honduran Government, Chevening would be able to grant at least three additional scholarships for Hondurans wanting to study in the UK, allowing participants to cover associated costs to their studies.

This is the first time Scholarships 20/20 collaborates with such organization in the UK. The scheme is due to start this year and candidates should apply through the Chevening system.

The partnership will support scholars who pursue master’s degrees in the following areas applicable under the Chevening scheme:

• tourism, textile & apparel,
• light manufacturing, agribusiness,
• business process outsourcing -information technology outsourcing,
• housing,
• health specializations

Speaking about the Chevening – Scholarships 20/20 partnership, The Presidential Delegate, Mr. Erasmo Portillo said:

We are transforming our country by spurring higher education and generating opportunities for Hondurans to access scholarships and get a specialization abroad. Our partnership with Chevening is based on the mutual aim of supporting outstanding individuals on their journey to greatness. I encourage all suitable candidates to apply for this amazing opportunity through the Chevening website.

Applications for the Chevening Scholarship scheme are currently open for the 2020/2021 cycle and will close on 5 November at 12:00 GMT. For further information and to apply for this partnership, please visit the Chevening website.

The Honduran Presidential Programme of Scholarships, Honduras 20/20, currently has 882 scholars studying their Master’s at many of the top universities in the world.

I’m delighted to be here today to take part in this panel discussion to mark Mental Health Day.

Today is a day for us all to pause and reflect on the importance of mental health for us as individuals, for our families and for our places of work.

One out of every four of us here sitting here today will have a mental health episode during their lifetime.

We also reflect soberly on this year’s theme of Suicide Prevention.

The World Health organisation tells us that despite progress, globally one person dies every 40 seconds from suicide. And suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds.

Whilst the headline figures are compelling, we need more data on what this means in Ghana to understand why it is happening to young girls and young boys.

But one thing is clear. Mental health cannot be ignored. It is a global issue to be addressed in all of our societies.

In Ghana, as in the UK and in many parts of the world, people with mental health conditions have been left behind and excluded.

More needs to be done. In the UK we have been keen to put Mental Health on the global agenda and last year hosted the first ever Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit in London.

In Ghana, he UK has been a proud supporter of mental health for more than ten years. Over this time, we have seen considerable changes: • All districts in Ghana now provide mental health services compared to 32 districts just six years ago.
• We have helped train more than 5,000 health workers on how to treat mental health conditions, with over 100,000 people receiving treatment for mental health conditions in 2018. • Community self-help groups in the northern regions and here in Accra supported by UK Aid have reached over 32,000 people.

We congratulate the Government of Ghana in its foresight in making Mental Health a priority. Backing this commitment with sufficient resourcing and appropriate legislation will be the key to affecting real change. The UK Government, through DFID, is supporting Ghana in achieving the necessary paradigm shift to ensure mental health care is delivered as an essential component of Universal Health Coverage.

This will mean focusing more concretely on improving access to services – making sure that these are integrated into general health services and are closer to communities; and free at the point of use to those that need them.
In this way, we hope that every Ghanaian affected by a mental health condition, especially the poor and most marginalized will have access to the care they need.

In Ghana, as in many countries, more needs to be done to overturn stigma and discrimination and support the full, active inclusion of people with mental health conditions.

Next month, a UK Aid supported programme will be looking to tackle stigma among the urban youth, who are among the most vulnerable but are also the key to securing Ghana’s long-term future. We will continue to work with the Government of Ghana, the World Health Organisation and Ghanaian partners at the grassroots to erode the stigma and discrimination around mental health; and put human rights at the heart of Ghana’s approach to mental health.

Ladies and Gentlemen, As we mark World Mental Health Day, our thoughts are with those families devastated by suicide.
Mental Health day is an opportunity to renew our commitment to work in Ghana and elsewhere towards transforming mental health, to promote care and support that is high quality, meets people’s needs and respects their dignity and rights.

Mental Health exists on a spectrum, from mild, time limited conditions, to chronic, progressive, severely disabling conditions. We are all on the continuum – all of us, in all countries and at all ages – and some of us move along that spectrum. We all need to pay as much attention to our on mental health as we do our physical health. Finally, I want to thank BasicNeeds for bringing us all together today to discuss the issue of suicide prevention.
I look forward to learning more about how we can better support people to improve their mental health and how the UK can best partner with Ghana on this important, but seldom discussed, issue.

Thank you.

The UK is reaching out to businesses in the EU through 30 industry events to provide advice and information to traders, logistics managers, transporters, exporters, importers and their agents about the steps they need to take to prepare for continuing trade with the UK in the event of Brexit without a deal.

The UK Government’s priority is to make sure that the borders remain secure, while ensuring that new controls and processes do not interrupt flow of goods. This is so EU member states and the UK can continue to trade easily after Brexit. Whilst the UK is making all the necessary preparations for Brexit on 31 October, there are also steps that businesses within the EU need to take to ensure they are properly prepared.

In industry events in Warsaw and in Katowice, a UK delegation will outline the changes to border processes and explain the actions that Polish businesses need to take to remain compliant with UK and EU requirements. It is crucial that both EU and UK traders understand what they need to do to continue trading between the EU and the UK after Brexit, with or without a deal.

The actions that Polish businesses need to take to continue trading with the UK are:

• Register for an EORI number with your home country’s customs authority in order to move goods between the UK and EU. This will be valid in all EU member states
• Ensure that you are aware of your domestic customs processes
• Speak to your UK supplier/customer to check who will be responsible for customs processes in the UK. In most cases it will be your UK supplier/customer

To help hauliers and traders in the EU further, the UK Government is setting up around 50 information pop-up sites in EU locations for drivers.

The stands will provide advice to hauliers on the documentation they require for themselves, their vehicle and the goods they are transporting. The objective is to ensure they are prepared for Brexit so that goods can continue to flow smoothly across borders. Information leaflets, guidance handbooks and pocket guides will also be available for hauliers to take away.

These pop-ups sites will be located at service stations, ports and on ferries to make sure advice to get ready for the border is easily accessible.

The UK has secured approval to continue exporting animals and animal products to the EU if we leave without a deal on 31 October – providing certainty for a market worth more than £5 billion a year.

Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers confirmed today that EU member states have granted the UK ‘national listed status’, which ensures exports of live animals and products of animal origin, such as meat, fish and dairy, can continue.

The move recognises the UK’s high biosecurity and animal health standards and will bring welcome clarity to the country’s world-leading farmers and food producers.

Environment Secretary, Theresa Villiers, said:

This is good news for UK businesses. It demonstrates our very high standards of biosecurity and animal health which we will continue to maintain and improve after we leave the EU.

If you or your business import or export animal and animal products, we want to make sure you are ready for Brexit. Our guidance sets out what you need to do to continue to trade after we leave the EU.

Our top priority remains delivering Brexit by the end of October, and our preference is to do that with a negotiated deal, but it is the job of a responsible Government to ensure we are ready to leave without a deal and without any further pointless delay.

The EU’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed confirmed the acceptance of the UK’s listed status on Friday (October 11) after it met the health and biosecurity assurances required for a third country.

With listed status now confirmed, if we leave without a deal, businesses exporting animals and animal products to the EU will still need to meet new requirements, such as going through the correct EU Border Inspection Post.

Businesses will also require an Export Health Certificate, which will need to be signed by a certifier such as an Official Veterinarian.

The decision will also allow the continued movement of equines between the UK and the EU, providing welcome reassurance to the sector.

British Horseracing Authority Executive Director Will Lambe said:

This is very welcome news for our sector, and provides some important certainty ahead of a 31st October departure from the EU. There will still be additional requirements for our participants wishing to travel a horse into the EU, but full guidance and assistance is available. We continue to support and appreciate the UK Government’s position that there will be no immediate change to arrangements for thoroughbreds travelling into the UK in the event of no deal.

Guidance for animal importers and exporters is available on GOV.UK. End to end journey maps, clearly set out all the steps exporters will need to take. The exports guidance has been updated to clarify that EHCs will be required for all different product types within a consignment. Specific guidance for equine exporters is available.

If we leave with a deal, the UK will not need to be listed during the implementation period. To give certainty to businesses and citizens, common rules will remain in place until the end of the implementation period meaning businesses will be able to trade on the same terms as now up until the end of 2020.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. Good morning.

It’s a great honour for me to speak today with so many eminent African leaders and experts, and to share a bit about the UK’s vision for our 21st century partnerships with African countries.

When I was appointed the UK’s Minister for Africa in July, I told my team that I wanted to get to know my patch as quickly as possible. They took me at my word. I have been fortunate enough to visit Kenya, Mozambique, South Sudan, Somalia, South Africa, and Uganda in the first few weeks and there are more visits planned in the near future. I have met a whole cross section of people – from Presidents to peacekeepers and from leaders of major business to a person running a food stall in a refugee camp.

Wherever I have been, I have found people receptive to the UK’s desire to a build modern, future-focused, mutually beneficial partnerships for prosperity.

In my previous role as Minister for Business and Industry, I championed my Government’s commitment to shared prosperity within the UK; to economic growth, good jobs, and prosperous communities in every region.

The Government’s ambitious vision for the UK’s partnerships with Africa is, at heart, no different. Under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the UK has a vision of working together with African countries on innovation, forging new investments with sustainable impact that creates jobs and boosts prosperity for all through an enduring partnership.

It is with this vision in mind that the UK will host the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London on the 20th of January next year.

The Summit will bring together businesses, governments and international institutions to encourage investment in a range of sectors that our African partners themselves have identified as their top priorities.

It will be a chance to demonstrate to global business the scale of commercial opportunities in Africa. It will also be an opportunity for the UK to showcase our unique offer to investors and to our African partners. That offer comprises not just UK Export Finance and CDC, both of whom are increasing the scale and reach of their efforts in Africa, but also the wealth of expertise and capital available here in the City of London.

The UK-Africa Investment Summit will do a range of things:

Firstly, build strong UK-Africa commercial partnerships in key areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and renewables, showcasing innovation and technology from leading African and UK businesses;

Secondly, position the City of London as global hub for capital and a gateway to Africa for financial investment; highlighting the UK’s investment expertise in areas such as early stage, green and local currency financing; and

Thirdly, create a modern partnership based on longer-term mutual prosperity between the UK and African countries, recognising achievements and sharing expertise including on things like energy transition.

The UK-Africa Investment Summit is just one way we are working towards our vision of supporting long term investment, building strong partnerships, and working together to solve shared challenges in Africa.

Let me briefly set out three key ways in which we are working with our African partners to achieve this.

First, we are accelerating long-term, sustainable, direct investment across Africa. We are putting the full weight of the UK’s Finance Institutions – CDC, UK Export Finance, and other new mechanisms – behind the effort to leverage investment. We are also developing new financial products to enable African companies to access capital markets here in the City of London.

This is tangible stuff, with clear impact, as I saw for myself when I visited what will soon become the new Kabaale International Airport in Uganda, a project supported by UK Export Finance.

The second thing we are doing with our African partners is all about incentivising trade. We are working with African governments to help build regulatory environments that are conducive to trade and investment, and working together to align our rules and standards.

We are working to help African governments make sure that businesses pay their way, by contributing to domestic revenue, so that governments can plough that revenue back into public services. This forms part of the UK’s wider commitment to good business, as seen in our Business Integrity Initiative against corruption, and our participation in the UN Global Compact and Ethical Trading Initiative. These are important initiatives to ensure that businesses around the world operate in a sustainable and just manner.

We are working with African governments to promote trade itself and we are upbeat about progress. Total trade between the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa has grown by more than 7% in the past 18 months.

I am particularly pleased that our new Economic Partnership Agreement with the Southern Africa Customs Union and Mozambique will sustain and strengthen future trade worth £10bn a year.

I am also pleased that we are able to provide technical support to the African Union as they roll out the African Continental Free Trade Area to help boost intra-African trade.

The third and perhaps most important thing we are doing to achieve our vision in Africa is investing in our partnerships. This means connecting prosperity to long-term challenges like security and climate change, and facing those challenges together.

For example, the Secretary of State for International Development Alok Sharma recently announced an Infrastructure Commission that aims to turbo charge investment in green, sustainable infrastructure. The commission will be made up of UK and international business leaders and will make recommendations to improve the planning, delivery and financing of infrastructure projects. Such projects form the backbone of economic growth.

As part of investing in partnerships, we are radically expanding our presence in Africa, we are opening new missions and bringing in trade experts and investment specialists. It is our biggest uplift in activity and investment in Africa a generation.

We are all too aware that Africa’s young population will grow up in a very different world from the one many of us have known. That is why we are putting a new emphasis on the UK supporting African innovation, ingenuity and creativity – to solve global challenges and unlock future opportunities.

For example, in Ghana, we partner on the Digital Finance Initiative, alongside the UK-Ghana Business Council; in South Africa we are partners in the Square Kilometre Array –helping to build a broader base of African science; and in Kenya, our Energy Access work is bringing clean solar power to homes across the country.

I wish you a productive day and I hope our paths will cross many times in the coming weeks and months as we work towards our shared goal of an Africa that is more peaceful, more just and more prosperous for us all.

Thank you.