Islamabad : The UK Government published its Integrated Review yesterday, which lays out how it will work with other countries in the world over the next decade.
The Integrated Review sets out the UK Government’s vision of its role in the world through to 2030 and the actions that UK will take at home and with other countries to ensure that it is stronger, safer and more prosperous in a competitive age.
It identifies the major changes in the world that will shape the next decade, including
Global challenges such as climate change, Covid-19, organised crime and terrorism which impact all our lives and risk reversing decades of shared progress;
Rapid technological change in areas such as artificial intelligence, cyber and data which will reshape our societies; and
UK will focus on 5 key areas to achieve this:
1. Solving global challenges, for example:Tackling climate change and biodiversity loss will be UK’s top international priority, supported by the £11.6 billion the UK has committed to international climate finance and the UK’s ten point green plan to reach net zero by 2050.
Helping the world to beat Covid-19 by accelerating equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics worldwide.
Investing in science and technology and acting as a responsible cyber power, for example:
Increasing economy-wide investment in research and development to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.
Establishing a new advanced research and invention agency
Acting as a force for good in the world, defending democracy and human rights, for example:
Using UK leadership on international development to help tackle global poverty and achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030.
Championing gender equality, including getting 40 million more girls into school in low and middle income countries by 2025.
Championing the free flow of trade, capital and knowledge as the best way to drive economic growth, for example:
Strengthening the global trading system and updating rules, especially on environment, services and digital sector.
Enabling growth through economic partnership agreements.
Taking a more robust approach to security and deterrence, for example:
Increasing UK investment in defence to 2.2% of gross domestic product;
Reaffirming our commitment to NATO and supporting its adaptation to new threats
The UK will do more to integrate our approach across diplomacy, development, and defence and we will return to spending 0.7% of gross national income on overseas development assistance.
Following publication of the Government’s Integrated Review (IR) the UK’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab explained how it provides a strategic blueprint for the UK’s foreign policy and national security approach until 2030. He said “The Integrated Review provides a road-map, guided by our moral compass, our history, and our present day mission as a force for good in the world.
“From our inventors to our entrepreneurs, from our diplomats and aid experts, to our brave armed forces all the people involved in delivering Global Britain share the unifying sense that we are part of a shared planet.
“We believe that we can and should help alleviate the worst suffering in the world that we have a moral responsibility and an indivisible stake in our planet, our global economy, our global eco-system and the conditions of peace and stability that underpin them.”