Foreign Secretary meeting with Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, 20 September

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said:

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the close partnership between the UK and the USA and their shared ambitions to build a stronger economic and security alliance between the two countries.

As two leading free enterprise democracies they recognised the shared common ground between the UK and USA on a wide range of areas including the Indo-Pacific and regional security there and the need to build back better from the Covid pandemic.

They discussed how they could use the Build Back Better World initiative to provide developing countries with reliable investment to meet their infrastructure needs in a sustainable way.

They welcomed the recently agreed Aukus partnership on security in the Indo-Pacific region.

And they discussed the benefits to both countries of the USA decision to lift travel restrictions on fully vaccinated travellers from the UK from November.

On Iran, they agreed on the need for an immediate release of all arbitrarily detained British and American nationals and on the need for Iran to return to negotiations on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in Vienna.

They discussed the ongoing situation in Afghanistan and recognised the need for the international community to deliver a coordinated response to the developing humanitarian crisis and an agreement on how to engage with the Taliban.

The Foreign Secretary also raised the case of Harry Dunn and the need to make progress on delivering justice for Harry’s family.