UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet Joe Biden for the first time since the U.S. president announced he would not seek re-election.
Starmer’s visit to the White House is scheduled for next Friday and will be his second since taking office, reported The Guardian.
His initial visit occurred at the NATO summit shortly after Labour’s election victory, amid discussions about President Biden’s age and health, during which Starmer noted that Biden was in “good form.”
Since then, Kamala Harris has officially been selected as the Democratic nominee. According to a statement from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the leaders will engage in “an in-depth discussion on a range of global issues of mutual interest.”
Also on the agenda will be efforts to secure a hostage release and a ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza.
The discussion will also cover safeguarding international shipping in the Red Sea from Iranian-backed Houthi threats, promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, and exploring ways to enhance U.S.-UK collaboration on securing supply chains and boosting climate resilience.
No meetings between Starmer and Harris have been announced, though it’s expected she will join the bilateral talks with Biden.
There are also no public plans for Starmer to meet Republican nominee Donald Trump, although such meetings have occurred in the past, like David Cameron‘s with Mitt Romney in 2012.
In July, Starmer extended his best wishes to Trump and condemned the assassination attempt on the former president.
Recently, Starmer has traveled to Berlin and Paris in an effort to recalibrate the UK’s ties with European leaders.
On Saturday, he will head to Dublin to meet with Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris, marking the first official visit to Ireland by a UK prime minister in five years.
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