London, Thanasis Gavos

In need of reinforcement the North Atlantic Alliance and to maintain its support for Ukraine agreed Rishi Sunak and Joe Budden during their morning meeting in the Downing Street garden.

According to the British Prime Minister’s Office, they also discussed the progress of the Ukrainian counteroffensive and stressed the importance of the long-term commitment of international partners to the defense of Ukraine, by providing what Kiev needs to win the war and secure future peace.

The two leaders also agreed on the need to ensure a fast track to Sweden’s full membership in NATO.

The meeting took place on the eve of the NATO summit in Vilnius. It was the fifth between the two men in as many months, but the first time President Biden has visited Downing Street.

In the 38-minute meeting they were also touched the situation in the Indo-Pacific and Iran and from there on, reference was made to bilateral cooperation.

In particular, the progress in the implementation of the Atlantic Declaration that the two signed when they recently met in Washington was discussed. This is a framework for broad UK-US economic cooperation with a focus on the challenges of the future.

The individual bilateral agreement on precious metals and the coordination text of the joint action group on energy security have already begun to be drawn up.

Messrs. Sunak and Biden agreed today to convene for October the first high-level meeting between officials from Number 10 and the White House to advance the implementation of the Atlantic Declaration.

Prime Minister Sunak also briefed President Biden on the UK government’s planned major international conference on Artificial Intelligence in the fall.

President Biden has now been hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle for lunch, a climate change debate and a meeting with attendees at a conference on funding environmental initiatives.