Bill Rammell, Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, visited Boston on 5-6 May for wide ranging discussions built around his portfolio, including the Middle East. Boston was the Minister’s second stop in the US, following his visit to Washington on 4 May.

Upon arrival in Boston, the Minister met with the board of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, speaking on the UK’s strategy for Afghanistan. He then met with experts on the Middle East peace process, including the political counsellor for the PLO’s mission to the UN, at Harvard before heading to a private meeting with Stephen Bosworth, US Special Envoy to North Korea.

Mr Rammell then delivered a speech entitled ‘The Middle East Peace Process: The New Political Landscape’ at Northeastern University, an event held in partnership with the University’s Centre for Middle East Studies. The speech emphasised the factors that altered the situation in the Middle East, including a new US administration and new terms under the Arab Peace Initiative to better support a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Read the full speech at the Foreign Office's homepage, or view the speech on YouTube below. Northeastern University's coverage of the event is available here.

The Minister began his second day in conversation with James Smith, foreign editor for the Boston Globe. Meeting notes were posted on Smith’s blog, Worldly Boston. He spent the remainder of the day meeting experts on Iran and counter-proliferation, as well as experts on transatlantic studies. MIT’s Center for International Studies and Harvard’s ‘Managing the Atom’ project separately hosted the Minister and provided briefings on their research and work with the US administration as well as interlocutors in Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan.

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