Korean and British companies' cooperation is currently underway in the Philippines and Vietnam. If the two sides work closely together to find other areas, the British minister said, they will be able to find more opportunities in other Asian markets as well.

The rise in multilateral funding, the IDC noted, had been accompanied by a relative decline in spending on programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and on some key millennium development goal targets. It urged DfID to spend more on bilateral programmes, on sub-Saharan Africa, and to “significantly increase spending on reproductive health”.

The UK accounts for roughly one in every seven of the world’s aid dollars. Is this post-colonial guilt or the organic development of a centre of expertise?

Why should politicians care that most Britons think too much tax revenue goes on aid when they can pose as noble saviours of the world? A recent poll by the respected Chatham House think tank found that only 11 per cent of voters want this spending to keep rising, while more than half want it to decrease.

George Osborne should ignore Washington's reprimands for Britain backing a Chinese state investment bank

This commitment is also crucial to our own long-term strategic interests in Britain. In the Department for International Development, we have a unique institution - with the right mandate and funding - which gives the UK world-leading soft power capacity

In a move that could plunge the corporation into confrontation with the North Korean dictator, the World Service is examining how to set up a special news channel that will get around Pyongyang’s ban on foreign media broadcasts.