This annual report covers a year of further significant success for the British Council. Through a huge variety of cultural and educational relations activities we have created and pursued more ambitious and productive projects and, consequently, reached more people across the world than ever before. We have significantly increased our financial turnover, and strengthened our ability to enable millions to add to their knowledge, skills and ideas and to express their talents and opinions.

At the core of these achievements is the consistent ability of the British Council and its staff to innovate in order to sustain relevance, to secure additional participation – especially among young people – and to win durable positive appreciation of the UK.

A few examples, which I have been fortunate enough to see for myself in the last year, illustrate the diversity and effectiveness of those innovations:

All of these and innumerable other achievements testify to the inventiveness and resolution of the people from multiple national and cultural backgrounds who work for the British Council. Those qualities of originality and dedication are also manifest – indeed, particularly so – in conditions of difficulty and danger. Our staff in Iraq and Afghanistan show special courage in their efforts to increase opportunity and expertise in those war-wounded countries. In Gaza, our Palestinian colleagues have striven to maintain services despite appalling siege conditions. In Zimbabwe and Burma British Council people continue with substantial educational and cultural projects despite the very grave political and economic circumstances. And, in this past year, the organisation was drawn into the very public and continuing disagreement between the British government and the government of Russia. When our Russian staff were put under direct intimidating pressure by the federal authorities we were forced to close our offices in St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg and to conduct all of our activities from Moscow. Over a million Russian people benefited from the services of the British Council in 2006–07, and it is clear that they were the main victims of the changes imposed upon us. Naturally, many of our associates in Russia share our conviction that strong educational and cultural connections are increasingly vital at times of political tension. We will therefore maintain our contacts and work with them to try to restore normal relations.

This annual report demonstrates the breadth and quality of our work and it also shows how, in his first year as Chief Executive, Martin Davidson has made changes and set directions that reinforce the excellence of the British Council. The Board of Trustees offers justified gratitude to him and to the worldwide staff of the British Council for their unceasing efforts to fulfil the enlightened and practical mission of our unique organisation.

Fostering understanding between peoples and cultures and earning the enduring trust that can be built on that foundation, are essential to stability and peace in this increasingly mobile and pressurised century. The public diplomacy efforts of the British Council are, therefore, more crucial than ever and we will continue to use all of the artistic, scientific, educational, intriguing, enabling and entertaining components of cultural relations to construct long-term relationships that not only flourish in favourable conditions but also endure in testing times.

That is what has given us purpose and momentum over seven decades. We will sustain that vitality as we mark our 75th anniversary in 2009 by celebrating the past in order to inspire fresh advances for the future.