Foreign Commonwealth Office

The FCO is a network of people working in the UK and in over 200 Embassies and Consulates abroad. Our total staff is around 16,000 people, of whom some 10,000 are local staff recruited around the world. Our purpose is to work for UK interests in a safe, just and prosperous world. To do that we:

1. lead and co-ordinate the UK's European and international policies
2. promote UK policies and values around the world
3. provide important direct services abroad to UK citizens and businesses
4. provide expert foreign policy advice to Ministers and the Prime Minister
5. pursue UK interests on the ground in crisis regions
6. negotiate for the UK in international organisations
7. gather, analyse and target information for the Government and others
8. organise senior level international contacts.

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