Laura Blizzard

Head of Development Strategy, International Critical Minerals Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office

Laura Blizzard represents the UK Government as the Head of Development Strategy in the International Critical Minerals team at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office since September 2024. Prior to this Laura lived and worked in East Africa for almost a decade serving in Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. In Tanzania Laura held the position of Head of Economic Diplomacy at the British High Commission, Dar es salaam leading on business and investment policy, government, and private sector relations in support of the UK’s economic development portfolio. Laura held a similar role in economic and trade policy at the British High Commission, Kampala, covering Uganda and Rwanda. Before this Laura has held various international policy roles for both the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, former Department of Energy and Climate Change and worked for an environmental lobby group representing UK private sector on environmental policy.