Date: Thursday 7 July 2016
Time: from 6.00pm to 8.00pm
Location: Room 116 in the SOAS premises at 22 Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG
On 7 July members of the Britain-Tanzania Society and of the Royal African Society, and other guests, were welcomed to the School of Oriental and African Studies in Russell Square, London, for a reception. This was organised to say farewell to Her Excellency Dianna Melrose, outgoing British High Commissioner in Dar es Salaam and to welcome her successor, Sarah Cooke.
A few days b
efore the reception, we learnt that the new Tanzanian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Her Excellency Dr Asha-Rose Migiro had arrived in London to take up her post. We were honoured that she was able to come and delighted to have this opportunity to meet and welcome her.
In all there were more than 60 people present, from a wide range of backgrounds – former High Commissioners, Tanzanians living in London, people from the business community with interests in Tanzania, people involved in organisations supporting development in Tanzania, representatives of
organisations involved in international development and diplomacy, and
ordinary – and in many cases longserving – members of the Society. There were interesting discussions and many new contacts were made.
We received an apology from Dame Valerie Amos who, like Dr Migiro, served in a high position in the United Nations, and has recently become Director (equivalent to Vice-Chancellor) of SOAS, the first black woman to lead a university in the United Kingdom. We were told that part of her ambition for SOAS is to reach out to the diplomatic community in London, and we look forward to meeting her in the future.