London [UK], July 11 (ANI): United States President Joe Biden began his trip to Europe on Monday with a visit to London where he met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles-III
The US President described the relationship between the two nations as “rock solid.”
The meeting between Biden and Sunak comes ahead of a key NATO meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital. Biden, who is on a three-nation visit, made his first stop at the UK before heading later in the day for a NATO leaders summit in Lithuania. In the UK, the President first sat down with PM Sunak at his No. 10 Downing Street residence.
At the meeting, Biden said, “We met in San Diego, Belfast, Hiroshima, Washington, here. And couldn’t be meeting with a closer friend and a greater ally. And we got a lot to talk about, and I — I think we’re doing well. I think we’re moving along in a way that’s positive, but our relationship is rock solid between the United States, Great Britain. And I look forward to our discussions,” according to the statement released by the White House. PM Sunak welcomed Biden and said, “Very privileged and fortunate to have you here.”
Recalling the previous meeting at the White House in June when UK and US signed the Atlantic Declaration — the first-of-its-kind economic partnership, Sunak said, “Great for us to carry on our conversations, which we were having just a month or so ago, it feels like, in the White House, where we signed the Atlantic Declaration — the first-of-its-kind economic partnership, which I know we’ll be talking about today: how do we strengthen our cooperation, joint economic security to the benefit of our citizens.”
The UK PM further stated that after this they will head to NATO in Vilnius, and will do everything they can to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security. Sunak hailed the UK and the US as “two of the firmest allies” in Nato, according to the statement. Later on, Biden met King Charles III at Windsor Castle with 23 leading philanthropists and financiers to help catalyze finance to support emerging markets and developing countries in tackling the climate crisis.
After this, the gathering followed the Climate Finance Mobilization Forum, which was convened by the UK Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, and inspired by the work of the King.
“Today’s gathering builds on longstanding UK–US efforts to turbocharge the net zero, resilient transition already underway in developing and emerging economies on the road to COP28,” the statement read. “The Forum brought together key players to identify how we can go further faster to mobilize the private investment needed to expand clean and renewable energy across the globe, reduce both potent CO2 and non-CO2 emissions, halt deforestation and restore forests, and build resilience to a changing climate,” it added.
In the three-nation visit, Biden will travel on to Vilnius, Lithuania, on Monday night and hold talks with NATO leaders there on Tuesday and Wednesday. On the agenda of the NATO summit, alliance leaders will discuss the conflict in Ukraine. Biden’s last stop will be in Helsinki for talks with the leaders of the newest NATO member, Finland, and to attend a summit of US and Nordic leaders. (ANI)
US President Biden to meet Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskyy at NATO summit: Report
Washington DC [US], July 11 (ANI): US President Joe Biden will meet with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit on Wednesday, CNN reported citing an official familiar with the meeting. The meeting between Biden and Zelenskyy will mark a sign of unity as the Ukrainian President‘s presence at the summit had been in question, according to CNN. The Russia-Ukraine conflict is among the team agenda items for NATO leaders along with discussing a future pathway for Ukraine to become a member of military alliance, the report said.
Ukraine will dominate the NATO summit scheduled to be held in Vilnius as Biden looks to keep the military alliance united behind Kyiv amid the ongoing conflict with Moscow. The alliance is facing questions regarding a potential path to NATO membership for Ukraine and additional military assistance, according to CNN.
Last week, Biden said he doesn’t think Ukraine is ready for NATO membership and added that NATO is a process that takes some time to meet all qualifications, from democratization to a whole range of other issues. “I don’t think it (Ukraine) is ready for membership in NATO,” the US President said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria when asked about Ukraine‘s NATO membership. Biden said he doesn’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family in the middle of the war.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war. If the war is going on, then we’re all in the war. You know, we’re at war with Russia, if that were the case. So, I think we have to lay out a path for a rational path for Russia, for you and me, for Ukraine to be able to qualify to get into NATO,” Biden said.
Previously, Zelenskyy said that he does not plan on attending the NATO summit “for fun” as he wants a clearer pathway for Ukraine to become part of a military alliance with security guarantees. He stressed that Ukraine should get clear security guarantees while it is not a member of NATO.
In an interview with ABC News, Zelenskyy said, “It would be an important message to say that NATO is not afraid of Russia. Ukraine should get clear security guarantees while it is not in NATO. Only under these conditions, our meeting would be meaningful, otherwise it’s just another politics.”
Over the past several months, Biden and Zelenskyy have had multiple high-profile meetings. Since the conflict started, Zelenskyy’s first visit outside Ukraine was to the US. A few months later, Biden travelled to Kyiv in a surprise visit and announced a half-a-million dollar assistance package. The last in-person meeting between the two leaders took place at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in May.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said providing Ukraine with cluster munitions for the first time was a “difficult decision,” but he was ultimately convinced to send the widely-banned weapons as Kyiv needed the ammunition against its ongoing counteroffensive against Russia, reported CNN.
The White House announced sending cluster munitions to Ukraine. Biden said, “It was a very difficult decision on my part. And by the way, I discussed this with our allies, I discussed this with our friends up on the Hill,” adding, “The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition,” according to CNN. (ANI)
