Kate White CMG
Biography
Kate White is the Director for Economic Security (formerly Director for Trade) at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). Kate was the interim Director General, Economics, Science and Technology from November 2023 to January 2024.
From April 2017 to January 2021, Kate was Director Asia Pacific, advising on UK policy toward the region covering China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia, the 10 countries that form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Timor Leste, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island countries.
Kate has also held a number of head of department roles at the FCO covering global economic issues, climate change, international science and innovation cooperation, and human resources. She was Joint Head of the new cross-government International Energy Unit established by the FCO and Department for Energy and Climate Change in 2014.
Overseas, Kate has worked in Hong Kong as part of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group (1998 to 2000), at the British Embassy in Jakarta (2007 to 2008), and on secondment to the British Trade and Cultural Office in Taipei (2000 to 2003).
Kate studied Mandarin Chinese in London and at Beijing Normal University as part of the FCO’s full-time language training programme between 1996 and 1998. She led the FCO’s work to re-establish a Language Centre in 2013, which supports British diplomats to strengthen language skills.
Kate has a degree in history from Cambridge University and was a Policy Fellow at Cambridge University’s Centre for Science and Policy from 2018 to 2020.
Previous roles in government
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Director General, Economics, Science and Technology
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Director, Asia Pacific