Staff Reporter :Ms Alison Blake has been appointed British High Commissioner to Bangladesh. She is to succeed the incumbent High Commissioner Robert W Gibson CMG, who will be transferring to another diplomatic service appointment. The newly announced envoy, Ms Alison Blake, will take up her appointment during January 2016, said the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Monday. Robert Gibson served more than four years in Dhaka. He is also the Dean of Diplomatic Corps in Bangladesh as the longest serving diplomat. “Alison Blake, Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad, will take up her appointment in January next year,” said the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.Alison is a native Londoner, with a keen interest in Ancient and Modern History, which she studied at Oxford University.After completing her BA in 1983, she worked as an archaeologist in London. Following that, Alison worked for an economic policy research think tank before entering the British Civil Service in 1989.She worked with the Ministry of Defence, including in her capacity as assistant private secretary to the secretary of state for defence, before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1996.She was the head of the FCO’s Conflict Group prior to her stint in the Pakistan mission.Blake also served in the Cabinet Office, British embassy in Washington, and UK Delegation to NATO in Brussels in her career. She also speaks French and Urdu.
