Secretary Antony J. Blinken And United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy Before Their Meeting

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Well, good afternoon, everyone, or almost good afternoon, everyone.  David, it’s wonderful to have you here in Washington at the NATO summit.  It’s a great pleasure for me to welcome Foreign Secretary Lammy and to simply state what should be obvious but always bears reminding:  This is not only a special relationship, it’s an essential one.  And certainly in my tenure, I have found that out.

We are together – the United Kingdom, the United States – on every critical issue of our times, the issues that affect the lives, the well-being, the future of the people that we represent as well as so many other people around the world.  And I’m very, very grateful for this opportunity to work closely with David, with the whole team on the challenges that we have before us here at the NATO summit – Ukraine, and the ongoing aggression by Russia; challenges in the Middle East; so many other places.

I know, as well President Biden looks very much forward to seeing Prime Minister Starmer a little bit later today.  I look forward to that as well.  But David, welcome; really good to be with you today.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY:  Tony, I’m very, very grateful for that warm welcome.  It’s wonderful to be here in the United States again and to be here for what is a very important summit.  This is 75 years of the greatest military Alliance in modern times.  I’m very proud that one of my predecessors, Ernest Bevin, was so central in setting up NATO in the first place, and I recognize that we meet at a very challenging time for the global community.  And on the issue of Ukraine particularly, I’m grateful for your leadership and your support.

This is a very important moment.  We’ve got lots of important things to discuss across the globe, where the U.S. and the UK work so closely together.  The special relationship means something, not just for our own countries but for the defense of freedom across the globe.

So thank you very much for that warm welcome.  It’s good to see you again, and it’s very good to be here as the UK’s foreign secretary.  Thanks.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thanks, everyone.