Alex Ellis on Brazil, the UK and 21st century diplomacy

Alex Ellis, the next British Ambassador to Brazil, spoke at King's last night on UK-Brazil relations and the changing nature of diplomacy in the 21st century. He highlighted the need for more British people to travel to Brazil to study, live and work, in the effort to forge a partnership between the two countries built on personal relationships and connections. He was welcomed by Professor Sir Rick Trainor, Principal & President of King's College London, in front of an audience of students, staff and guests from the Embassy of Brazil. Alex Ellis is the former Director of Strategy at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and UK Ambassador to Portugal. He has worked as an advisor to the President of the European Commission and represented the UK in EU negotiations to establish the euro, the seven year budget and the Treaty of Nice. Already a fluent Portuguese speaker, Mr Ellis has been undertaking a bespoke training course at King's Brazil Institute in advance of his posting to Brasilia in July. In his talk, he spoke about applying what he has learned in previous diplomatic roles to his studies on Brazil and gave some initial thoughts about the future of UK-Brazil relations.