Hague to launch worldwide network of commonwealth embassies to tackle 'superpower' EU

• Will team up with the three Commonwealth allies
  
• Will look to 'first cousins' to rival Brussels
  

By Simon Walters

PUBLISHED: 21:17 GMT, 22 September 2012 | UPDATED: 21:17 GMT, 22 September 2012

William Hague will tomorrow launch a worldwide network of British Commonwealth embassies to rival the emergence of the EU as a foreign superpower.

The Foreign Secretary is in Canada where he will sign an agreement to open joint UK-Canadian diplomatic missions abroad.

He also hopes Australia and New Zealand will join the initiative whereby the four countries will pool their resources to extend their combined influence on world affairs.

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I for one think this is very sensible, we (UK/Canada/Australia/New Zealand) should be proud of our commonality. We allowed the Commonwealth to be watered down and time to make it work.

Canada and Australia have been running joint offices for some time now and it works well. Areas where Canada has good coverage (Africa) handles consular issues for Australians, and vice-versa in places like Asia where Australia is better represented.

Canada and Australia have been running joint offices for some time now and it works well. Areas where Canada has good coverage (Africa) handles consular issues for Australians, and vice-versa in places like Asia where Australia is better represented.

William Hague-totally out of touch as with everything!

when he said ' He also hopes Australia and New Zealand will join the initiative ' , even as far back as seven years ago when I was in Havana, Cuba as an Australian I could get embassy and consular services at the Canadian Embassy . So Australia did join the initiative a long time ago?

Trying to cut costs if you ask me.

The proposal has not gone over well with the official opposition in Canada.

The new agreement with the United Kingdom to be announced Monday shows that Canada is happy to be a pawn in Britain's diplomatic game, says opposition MP Paul Dewar. The NDP official opposition which is a leftist party closely aligned with the unions and now the major federal party in Quebec, has risen to this political gift.

Good explanation here; http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/raising-red-flags-plan-to-share-embassies-with-britain-stirs-up-critics/article4561954/

Some of the arguments are laughable;

Paul Heinbecker, the former Canadian ambassador to Germany and permanent representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York, warned that the relationship with a former colonial power in many parts of Asia and Africa could be a net negative.

Yes, Paul, the Africans will be so distraught they won't accept the aid money from Canada. It is not as if the Africans have taken positions that support Canada now has it?

In Mali, British diplomats are housed in the Canadian embassy. In Myanmar, where Canada has just reopened its diplomatic presence, a sole Canadian is housed in the British embassy. Britain also has some similar arrangements with Australia. Italy now represents Canada in Iran.

The decision makes good economic sense.

Trying to cut costs if you ask me.

All about knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.