British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visit Washington next week

2023-05-30 22:17:50, Kosova & Bota CNA

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will host President Joe Biden next week at the White House. The two leaders will discuss issues related to improving economic ties and continuing military support for Ukraine as it faces Russian aggression.

Mr. Sunak will stay in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday of the coming week for meetings with President Biden, American lawmakers and business leaders. Mr Sunak's spokesman said on Tuesday that there would be no talks on a formal free trade agreement.

" The visit will be an opportunity to further advance the talks that the Prime Minister and President Biden held in recent months, regarding the increase in the level of cooperation and coordination between Great Britain and the USA for economic challenges, which are decisive for the future our ", said the spokesman.

As one of the topics of discussion, he mentioned the two countries' support for Ukraine.

This is Mr. Sunak's first official visit to Washington since his appointment as prime minister in October. He aims to forge better relations with the US, which have been strained since Britain left the European Union in 2020.

In April, a White House official was forced to dismiss claims that Mr Biden is "anti-British", views which emerged after the US president spent more than half a day in the British province of Northern Ireland, before to leave for the Irish Republic, for 2 and a half days of meetings.

The Biden administration has shown little interest in negotiating a free trade deal with the United Kingdom.

Discussions had progressed during the administration of former US President Donald Trump, before President Biden came to power, but then stalled.

Mr Sunak's spokesman said on Tuesday that there would be no talks on a free trade agreement during the visit. According to him, the visit will focus on reducing trade barriers in other ways, such as agreements with individual states.

The White House said in a statement that the two leaders will also discuss the situation in Northern Ireland, which has been without a functioning government for more than a year.

Britain's relationship with the United States is partly built on close ties in defense, intelligence, economic and cultural ties. Likewise, the two countries are on the same page when it comes to support for Ukraine.

Mr. Sunak accepted Mr. Biden's invitation to visit the White House in March, when the two leaders met in San Diego to inaugurate the next phase of an alliance between the United States, Britain and Australia, known as the AUKUS agreement.

Thanks to it, it is planned to provide Australia with nuclear-powered combat submarines from the early 2030s, with the aim of countering China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region./ VOA