Alok Sharma
Benet Coulber/DFID - Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Alok Sharma named secretary of state for international development

Conservative MP for Reading West Alok Sharma has been appointed as secretary of state for international development, replacing Rory Stewart.

Sharma previously held roles as minister for housing and in the Department for Work and Pensions, succeeds Stewart, who left the role after Boris Johnson won the race to become Conservative party leader.

Sharma was elected as an MP in 2010, and has held a position in cabinet since 2016, when he was made parliamentary under-secretary of state for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign Office. He set up the East West Leaders Forum, a platform for business leaders to help promote dialogue between Europe, India and China, back in 2014.

When Stewart was appointed in May, we outlined four priorities. We hope Sharma will also focus on these key areas of development.

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Bond CEO Stephanie Draper had this to say in response to Sharma’s appointment:

“We look forward to working with Alok Sharma. We urge the incoming secretary of state for international development to continue to champion a poverty-focused development agenda that supports the Sustainable Development Goals and works to reach the world’s poorest and most marginalised people by prioritising good quality aid and development.

“This is the best way to deliver the government’s 2017 manifesto promise to build ‘a safer, healthier, more prosperous world’ and align UK aid with the Sustainable Development Goals, by putting an end to extreme poverty.”

Find out more about the new UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s views on aid spending and DFID’s future as an independent government department, and what Bond is doing in response.

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