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Dominic Raab promised that Britain will take global leadership in the fight against coronavirus and the rising risk of famine in developing countries by combining diplomatic strength with “world leading” aid expertise such as the newly merged Foreign Office. , Commonwealth and Development (FCDO) was preparing to launch on Wednesday.
In his first appointment as head of the FCDO, the Foreign Secretary appointed Nick Dyer, Acting Permanent Secretary of the former Department for International Development (DfID), as the UK’s first special envoy for hunger prevention and humanitarian affairs .
The merger of DfID and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to form the FCDO, announced by Boris Johnson in June, has been widely criticized, including by three former prime ministers. Critics have expressed concern that it will jeopardize Britain’s position as a world leader in development and risks abandoning its engagement with people in low-income countries.
Raab announced a £ 119 million aid package to combat coronavirus and famine, aimed at alleviating extreme hunger for more than 6 million people in Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, the Central African Republic, the region from the Sahel, South Sudan and Sudan.
Ahead of a year in which the UK takes over the presidencies of the G7 and COP26, the Foreign Secretary urged other countries to step up and help the developing world facing a number of challenges.
He said: “The coronavirus and hunger threaten millions in some of the poorest countries in the world and lead to direct problems affecting the UK, including terrorism and migration flows.
“The global UK, as a force for good in the world, is leading by example and uniting the international community to tackle these deadly threats, because it is the right thing to do and it protects British interests.
“We can only address these global challenges by combining our diplomatic strength with our world-leading aid expertise.”
Last week, critics raised concerns about the timing and makeup of the FCDO’s senior leadership team, which includes five former FCO employees and just two former DfID employees.
The UN has warned that the world is facing its worst food crisis in 50 years, as the looming recession following the coronavirus pandemic puts food security out of reach for many. Fifty million people are at risk of extreme poverty this year, with food systems threatened like never before.
