Thank you, Chair. On 19 May the UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Presidents Von Der Leyen and Costa and High Representative Kallas to Lancaster House, for the first ever Summit between the UK and the EU. It was an important forward-looking discussion at which our leaders confirmed our steadfast dedication to the fundamental tenets of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law. They restated our commitment to the Helsinki Decalogue and to the rules based international order, with the United Nations at its core.
Our leaders stressed our resolute condemnation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and underlined our commitment to hold Russia accountable for its aggression. Our leaders also offered continued support to Moldova and reaffirmed our commitment to the stability and prosperity of the Western Balkans.
Europe faces a generational threat to our shared security and against this backdrop the discussion included global and strategic priorities of joint concern and agreement to strengthen cooperation across a range of issues for the security, safety and prosperity of all people across the UK and EU.
During the Summit the UK and the EU reached agreement on a Security and Defence Partnership. The Partnership is broad and ambitious and will upgrade our cooperation on areas ranging from defence industry, mobility of military material and personnel, maritime security and space security, to illicit finance, irregular migration and working together to protect our critical infrastructure. These are issues relevant to the work that we do each day here in Vienna and our partnership will contribute to our shared security.
Madam Chair, this Summit underpinned the importance of UK and EU cooperation and our new geopolitical partnership that drives closer coordination, builds on our OSCE principles and commitments and will underpin our comprehensive approach to security.
Thank you.
