Secretary of State for Defence has concluded a planned visit to Washington, DC to
conduct meetings with senior US defence and security leaders.
He met with his counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd J Austin
III, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and General Mark
Milley, to discuss a range of defence and security issues of
mutual concern including support to Ukraine in its war against
Russia, NATO, and the AUKUS trilateral
security pact.
Defence Secretary said:
It’s been an honour and a great pleasure to meet again with my
friend Lloyd Austin III.
The US is our closest ally and defence partner, with shared
values that serve to promote open and free democracies across the
world, alongside continued peace and security.
We discussed ways to strengthen our defence cooperation, breaking
down barriers and increasing our interoperability through the
AUKUS trilateral agreement - and we turned our attention again to
our unwavering support for Ukraine.
The Defence Secretary also discussed the importance of the
trilateral work under way to make the AUKUS agreement a
generational success with the US House of Representatives Foreign
Affairs Committee.
Speaking during their meeting at the Pentagon, Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin III said:
We have no closer partner or ally than the United Kingdom.
AUKUS is an historic opportunity that shows how strong we can
become when we work together.
It shows our deep commitment to a free and open Indo Pacific and
it is testament to our shared values and the long-term
investments we are making in our forces.
I am confident AUKUS will break down barriers and usher in a new
era of US-UK defence co-operation.
