Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace 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 Ben Wallace 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.
