International
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Canada Day: Scotland’s strong and enduring friendship with Canada
1st July 2017 by Fiona Hyslop MSP
I am proud to highlight the strong and enduring friendship between Scotland and Canada as we mark the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation today (1st July) and as Scotland prepares to welcome Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Edinburgh next week. Canada has always been one of our key cultural and business partners: threads...
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Europe Day 2017: Scotland’s cultural relationships with Europe
9th May 2017 by Fiona Hyslop MSP
Today is Europe Day, marking what is widely believed to be the birth of the European Union on 9 May 1950, when Robert Schuman, a French foreign minister, made the Schuman Declaration. It proposed that France and West Germany, alongside Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium, should pool coal and steel production. As Europe was...
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Police Scotland in Africa
29th April 2017 by Alasdair Allan MSP
As a good global citizen, it is important that Scotland supports countries, with some of the most vulnerable people, out of hardship and poverty. That is why we are funding Police Scotland to extend its specialist training for African police forces to tackle gender-based violence and improve child protection. To 2019, the Scottish Government will...
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Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome
25th March 2017 by Fiona Hyslop MSP
Sixty years ago today, in a Europe that was still healing from the division and economic scars of World War Two, the signing of the Treaty of Rome laid the foundations for the sustainable peace we all enjoy today. What for centuries had been an abstract aspiration for meaningful cross-border cooperation had turned into concrete...
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Supporting the world’s poor
9th March 2017 by Culture, Europe and External Affairs Communications Team
International Development Minister Alasdair Allan launched today a new four and a half-year funding round to support for communities in Zambia and Rwanda. In Rwanda, in partnership with Tearfund Scotland, the Scottish Government has helped communities set up businesses and find a way out of poverty. In this blog post, Tearfund talks about the programme “Ending...
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Scotland retains Fair Trade Nation status
2nd March 2017 by Alasdair Allan MSP
Yesterday I announced that Scotland has retained Fair Trade Nation status with 43% more consumers reporting that they bought Fairtrade products in 2016 than in the preceding year. Here, Martin Rhodes, Director of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum explains why Fair Trade Nation status is so important for Scotland.
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Building economic ties with Japan
18th February 2017 by Fiona Hyslop MSP
This week I have been in Japan to strengthen cultural and economic ties and the special relationship that exists between our two countries. Scotland is an outward looking society and Japan is an important international ally. This trip underlined the Scottish Government’s determination to maintain our reputation on the global stage. One message that I...
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Japan’s growing market for Scotch
15th February 2017 by Fiona Hyslop MSP
During my visit to Japan, I visited the Isetan Shinjuku Store, which boasts the highest sales of any department store in Japan. I had the pleasure to take part in the first ever Scottish food and drink Fair and highlight the quality and provenance of authentic Scottish produce. Scotland has a fantastic larder of some of the world’s...
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Our flourishing relationship with Japan
11th February 2017 by Fiona Hyslop MSP
Our long history with Japan dates back to the 19th century – shortly after Japan decided to open its doors to the world. The Scottish merchant Thomas Glover’s relationship with Japan has been widely publicised and celebrated in both countries, and I had the pleasure of visiting Glover Garden in Nagasaki in 2015.
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Burns’ values relevant to EU question
26th January 2016 by Humza Yousaf MSP
The people of Scotland and the rest of the UK will soon decide whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union. The UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said his referendum on EU membership will happen before the end of 2017. The smart money is that it will take place this year...
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