President Joe Biden reaffirmed the “solid” relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom on Monday during a diplomatic stopover in London, on the way to the NATO summit in Lithuania that will discuss, among other issues, support for Ukraine.
Biden met for about 45 minutes with British Prime Minister Rishi
Sunak, Downing Street, in whose garden they had tea and talked among many topics about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Amid tight security, Biden was received by Sunak outside the door of 10 Downing Street, where both leaders greeted the media before entering the official residence
Sunak told the media that the two would discuss ways to “strengthen” cooperation between the two countries, as well as economic security “for the benefit of our citizens.”
In addition, Sunak described as “very good” that the two leaders can talk on Monday, after a series of meetings they have held this year, including the prime minister’s visit to Washington last month.
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President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
According to information from Downing Street, President Biden and Sunak discussed the progress of the counteroffensive in Ukraine and the importance of supporting that country so that it can win the war against Russia.
The leaders stressed the importance of helping Ukraine to achieve a “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine, the official residence added in a statement released on Monday.
Facing the NATO summit that begins tomorrow in Lithuania, Biden and Sunak agreed on the need to ensure that Sweden can quickly join the Atlantic Alliance. “The Prime Minister and President Biden also addressed the broader geopolitical context, including in the Indo-Pacific and Iran,” the note added.
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The Prime Minister and President Biden also addressed the broader geopolitical context, including in the Indo-Pacific and Iran.
Among other things, Biden and Sunak discussed the progress made since the so-called Atlantic Declaration, the first framework for an economic partnership between the UK and the US.
“Since the last meeting of the Prime Minister and President Biden at the White House (in June), we have started work on a UK-US Critical Minerals Agreement, and the Joint Task Force on Energy Security has come together to begin work on strengthening our clean energy supply chains,” the statement said.
“The Prime Minister also updated (Biden) on the Artificial Intelligence Summit in the UK that will take place this autumn. and thanked the president for his strong support for the initiative,” he added.
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This is the first visit by the US head of state to the UK since last April.
Biden, for his part, He said on Monday that his country’s relationship with the UK is “rock solid”.
“We have a lot to talk about. I think we’re doing well. We’re moving forward positively. But our relationship is solid as a rock,” said the US president, before moving to Windsor, about 40 km west of London, for meet King Carlos III.
The British government also stated that this visit “reflects the solid relationship” between the two countries. However, Sunak’s conservative executive has still not achieved the long-awaited free trade agreement with the United States that it hoped to obtain after Brexit -effective from 2021- to alleviate the loss of trade advantages with the European Union, until then its main trading partner. .
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If their respective predecessors -Boris Johnson and Donald Trump- seemed determined to close it quickly, the arrival of the Democrat Biden to the White House in 2021 and his reluctance regarding the possible negative consequences of Brexit for the fragile peace agreement in Northern Ireland put a some brake on negotiation.
The Northern Irish question possibly figured in the conversation. It is “a topic that the president regularly discusses with his British counterpart,” said Amanda Sloat, Biden’s top adviser for Europe.
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Biden also met with King Charles.
This is the first visit by the US head of state to the UK since last April on the occasion of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Northern Ireland peace agreement.
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The meeting took place after the controversy over the US decision to supply cluster bombs to that country, despite the controversy surrounding this weapon because it releases small bombs that can cause numerous victims in a very wide.
The British government has distanced itself from that decision after Sunak indicated that the United Kingdom opposes these bombs as it is part of the convention that prohibits them, signed by 123 countries.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING*
*With AFP and EFE
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