British Embassy staff recognised in national newspaper awards

Muto Etsuko, based in Tokyo, and Terry Shears, based in Washington, are joint winners in the Uk newspaper's reader-voted Commercial Attaché awards.

Commercial officer Muto Etsuko, who has worked at the British embassy for 22 years, specialises in fashion, health and beauty, and sports and leisure. She said: "I have a very devoted team in Tokyo and Osaka who are all determined to help British companies learn about the Japanese market, get to know key contacts and start or develop their business on a long-term basis.”

Terry Shear is a vice consul at the British embassy in Washington and has worked in the field for 12 years. She heads up UKTI's work on selling defence industry expertise to the US market, and received an MBE this year.

UKTI chief executive, Andrew Cahn, said: "It's fantastic to have two of our outstanding international team recognised for their commitment and dedication to business.

Several other UKTI colleagues were highly commended in the awards. They were Edward Wright (health and life sciences, Tokyo), Laura Lescinskiene (market adviser, Vilnius), Marie-Agnes Laude (commercial team, Paris), and TR Giridhar (media, creative and IT, Mumbai).

UK Trade & Investment is the Government organisation that helps businesses locate in the UK and grow internationally.