British expert Dimitri Zenghelis visited Bolivia in 2007 for a series of conferences about the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change

The United Kingdom and Bolivia have good relations, and we have been present here for many years.  British companies were involved in the Bolivian mining sector and railways in the nineteenth century: those businesses have long gone, but UK companies are still active in the hydrocarbons sector, power generation and manufacturing.

In the Embassy, our main areas of co-operation with the Bolivian government are in the fields of climate change, citizen security and human rights.

We do not have a large bilateral aid budget, so we have to be more imaginative (and selective) with the money we have.   We also have to ensure that the work we do is in line with the foreign policy priorities of the British government.  We try to work with local partners, helping them advance their programmes.  

Climate change is one of the major challenges for the future of the planet.  Bolivia is not a major emitter of greenhouse gases, but it is very vulnerable.  Within Bolivia’s borders lies part of the Amazon basin, one of the “lungs” of the planet, with the challenges of deforestation, biodiversity and water management.  The country is also suffering from deglaciation in the Andes, which has put at risk the water supply to the altiplano and especially the city of El Alto; and from both serious flooding and from drought.  We have been working with the Programa Nacional sobre Cambios Climaticos (the main Bolivian government body dealing with the issue) and with local NGOs to explain the issues and how individuals can make a difference.

We have been working with the Bolivian government and with the Armed Forces and National Police in the field of citizen security.  Security is one of the fundamental factors without which there can be no economic development.  We have been assisting the Bolivian government in promoting a new culture of accountability and transparency, and building confidence between the institutions and the public.  We have been looking specifically at a few areas: the introduction of community policing, to break down the barriers of distrust between the police and the communities they serve; modernisation of the security sector, which not only includes the conditions of the officers and men, but also their interaction with the civilian population; and non-lethal crowd control which recognises people’s right to demonstrate, balanced against the right of the rest of the populace to enjoy a peaceful life.  In all of these cases, these are Bolivian programmes that we are assisting.

Bolivia has a fairly good human rights record.  But, as with everywhere, there are areas where we can assist.  So we have been working with the Human Rights Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo) on helping children recognise their rights by publishing books written by children for children.  We have also been trying to spread the message of open government and access to public information.  Bolivia has a free (and very vocal) press, and we have been working with the main journalists association to help them understand their rights and responsibilities.