July 8 (UPI) — President Joe Biden plans to host newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday during NATO’s 75th anniversary and bilateral meetings in Washington, D.C., the White House announced Monday.
The nations’ meetings run Tuesday through Thursday.
NATO has 32 member countries, including newcomer Sweden.
On Friday, Britain’s Labor Party won a landslide victory in a general election that saw the ruling Conservative Party of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak swept from power after 14 years in government.
“President Biden looks forward to his first meeting with Prime Minister Starmer and will underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
She said the two “leaders will have the opportunity to discuss in depth U.S.-UK cooperation across a range of issues, including support to Ukraine, advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific, reaching a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, ensuring that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon, and strengthening the coalition to confront Iranian-backed Houthi threats to commercial shipping.”
She said they will also discuss furthering bilateral cooperation in “areas such as protecting advanced technologies and developing climate and clean energy solutions.”
Biden and Starmer spoke Friday, according to the White House.
Starmer, who served as the leader of the Labor Party since 2020, appeared in London on Friday at mid-morning for an audience with King Charles, in which the monarch invited him to form a new government led by him.
Events are scheduled at the convention center and the White House, as well as the Mellon Auditorium, which is where the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in 1949.