UK PM Rishi Sunak to hold key bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden today

Washington: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will be holding a key bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden on Thursday. Sunak, who began his two-day trip to Washington with a message that post-Brexit Britain remains an essential American ally, is likely to discuss issues including Ukraine, economic and defence cooperation. America and Britain are the two biggest military donors to Ukraine. The recent dam collapse in a Russian-controlled region in Southern Ukraine has added urgency to the meeting between the two leaders.

Apart from Ukraine, Sunak will push for closer



economic ties between the US and UK during the meeting with Biden. Sunak is also likely to lobby for UK defense secretary Ben Wallace to become the next head of NATO after secretary general Jens Stoltenberg steps down in September. 

The trip is Sunak’s first to the US capital since he took office in October, but his fourth meeting with Biden in the last four months. The two leaders earlier met at a Group of Seven summits in Japan, in Northern Ireland, and at a three-way defence meeting with Australia in San Diego.