Today, President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Boris Johnson met in the margins of the G7 Summit in Biarritz, France. They celebrated the enduring Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom and reaffirmed the value of the transatlantic partnership.

The President and the Prime Minister noted the unique depth of the security and defense partnership between the two countries and the benefits it brings to each. They committed to increasing the cooperation between the two sovereign nations. President Trump and Prime Minister Johnson also discussed how the United Kingdom leaving the European Union presents many opportunities for deepening our already robust economic and commercial relationship, including a comprehensive trade agreement.

The leaders acknowledged the importance of free, fair, and reciprocal trade and discussed opportunities for deepening our trading relationship in the future based on mutual respect for these principles. The President and Prime Minister also discussed the important role of investment in our respective economies and noted American investment in the United Kingdom is responsible for more than 1 million British jobs and British investment in the United States is responsible for more than 1 million American jobs.

President Trump and Prime Minister Johnson directed United States Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow and United Kingdom Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill to launch a “Special Relationship Economic Working Group” (SREWG). The SREWG will develop market-oriented principles for economic growth and increase bilateral cooperation on issues related to the modern 21st century economy.

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• The UK is leading the way in supporting female entrepreneurs across Africa to start and grow businesses

• UK aid will break down barriers by providing up to 10,000 women with essential business training and thousands more with better access to business loans

• Unleashing the economic potential of women will boost African economies, trade and investment opportunities and increase global prosperity, which is in the interests of the UK and African countries

The International Development Secretary Alok Sharma has announced today that the UK will significantly increase its support to empower female entrepreneurs and businesswomen across Africa. UK aid will provide business advice, training and financial support to back women-led businesses supporting economic growth across the continent.

An equal role for women in the economy is essential to sustained growth and will help lift millions out of poverty. Experts estimate that advancing economic equality globally could add $12 trillion (or 11 per cent) to the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Despite having the highest concentration of female entrepreneurs in the world, women in a number of African countries face greater barriers to starting their own businesses than their male peers. This is because women often find it harder to access further education, get business loans, sign contracts and own property based on their gender.

Increased funding through UK aid will incentivise African banks across the continent to lend to women by reducing the costs, while providing expert training to female entrepreneurs in essential skills to make their businesses a success.

Research shows that women typically reinvest up to 90 per cent of their income in the education, health and nutrition of their family and community, compared to 40 per cent for men. This means that investing in female-led businesses can transform societies as well as women’s lives.

By leveraging the economic potential of tens of thousands of women, today’s announcement of £30 million of UK aid will:

• Provide up to 10,000 budding female entrepreneurs with essential training and mentoring to help them better manage their businesses, including marketing, financial and business planning.

• Start partnerships with up to 30 banks across Africa, helping to bring down the cost and incentivise lending to thousands of women.

• Transform women’s job opportunities and boost African economies to help countries become our trading partners and build their future beyond aid.

International Development Secretary Alok Sharma said:

Every woman deserves the same opportunities as her male peers to start and build a business. But this is not just about equal opportunities. By breaking down barriers and unleashing the potential of women across Africa, UK aid is supporting the private sector to thrive, helping nations across the continent to increase economic growth and shape their own future beyond aid.

By investing in the economic empowerment of African women, we are investing in ending poverty, and in developing Britain’s trading partners of the future.

The UK aims to be the biggest G7 investor in Africa by 2022. Today’s announcement builds on the UK’s existing partnerships with African nations to create mutual trade and investment opportunities, ahead of the UK-Africa Investment Summit which is due to take place in London next year.

Notes to editors

The £30 million of UK aid announced today is for women’s economic empowerment to extend DFID’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative. This will go towards the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) programme run by the African Development Bank.

The UK-Africa Investment Summit will bring together businesses, governments and international organisations to strengthen the partnership between the UK and Africa and help generate billions of pounds of opportunities for both British and African businesses.

Children in the world’s most dangerous countries will be given the chance to go to school for the first time thanks to £90m of UK aid funding, the Prime Minister will announce today.

The Prime Minister will also call on G7 countries to dedicate more of their aid budget to education, particularly for girls living in conflict areas. Education currently accounts for less than 2% of global humanitarian aid.

Today’s announcement will support the work of Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies that the UK helped to set up in 2016. The £90m of UK aid will help 600,000 children get an education.

1 in 4 of children not in school live in countries affected by conflicts, humanitarian emergencies and protracted crises and the vast majority of these children are girls.

Girls are more than twice as likely to be out of school if they live in conflict areas, and young women living in conflict are nearly 90% more likely to be out of secondary school than those in other countries. Families are more likely to keep girls than boys at home, particularly when there is a risk of sexual or other violence at or on the way to school. Girls are also less likely to return to education due to being forced to take on caring responsibilities, work or be married early.

A major theme of this year’s G7 is tackling inequality, and the Prime Minister will tell fellow leaders that this cannot be achieved without a wholescale, global commitment to girls’ education. This is a longstanding priority for the Prime Minister – in 2018, while Foreign Secretary, he signed the UK up to the Safe Schools Declaration, committing to protect schools during military operations and armed conflict.

One third of the £90 million funding will be earmarked for those children living through the world’s ‘forgotten crises’, such as the current emergency in the Sahel, where thousands of girls are prevented from going to school due to conflict and instability.

Speaking at the G7 today Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

Innocent children suffer the most from the brutal reality of life in the world’s most dangerous countries. I’m determined to ensure that all children have a chance to succeed – no matter where they are born. It is only through equipping the adults of tomorrow with learning and skills that we will break this cycle of instability.

And it is girls that suffer the most growing up in societies marred by violence. We owe them better. Girls’ education is the Swiss Army knife that solves a multitude of the world’s problems. Everyone benefits from a world where girls have the same opportunities as their brothers.

I pledged on the steps of Downing Street to ensure that every girl in the world gets 12 years of quality education. I’m proud that today’s announcement will help us do that.

International Development Secretary Alok Sharma said:

Children living through wars and humanitarian crises have had their childhood taken away from them. We will not allow their future to be lost as well.

This is why UK aid is helping some of the most vulnerable children, particularly girls, get the education they deserve. This will have a transformative effect on their lives.

Today the Prime Minister will also announce new funding for female entrepreneurs across Africa, giving them training and mentoring to help manage their businesses. This, along with the additional support for girls’ education announced today, will lift women out of poverty and help bridge the global gender gap which is estimated to cost the world economy $12 trillion.

Holiday goers are set to benefit from quicker and easier airport security checks after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced plans for all major UK airports to introduce ground-breaking new 3D cabin baggage screening equipment.

In addition to the world leading security measures already in place at UK airports, the new 3D technology, using the most advanced imaging systems available, will keep people even safer by providing security personnel with better images of cabin baggage.

This could mean in future passengers may be able to keep liquids and electrical equipment, like laptops, in their cabin baggage while it is screened. Once in place, the 100ml liquid limit may no longer apply and passengers could take liquids, like a bottle of water, through security.

However, passengers will still be required to remove their laptops and liquids from their cabin bags for security screening, until this equipment is introduced at airports. It will be rolled out over the next few years, with the Department for Transport requiring all major UK airports to have the technology by 1 December 2022.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

We are home to the largest aviation network in Europe, with millions of people passing through our airports every year for work, holidays and family visits.

We’re set to streamline those trips with the rollout of this ground-breaking technology – cutting down hassle for travellers and improving security measures.

By making journeys through UK airports easier than ever, this new equipment will help boost the vital role our airports play in securing the UK’s position as a global hub for trade, tourism and investment.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

The new screening equipment will improve security and make the experience smoother and less stressful for passengers. It could also mean an end to passengers having to use plastic bags or rationing what they take away with them.

As an outward looking global nation, our transport hubs are more important than ever, and investing in our security infrastructure means we are investing in our nation’s future.

Heathrow Airport is currently trialling the new 3D equipment which will be gradually rolled out at other UK airports. The innovative new equipment may have the potential to reduce the amount of time required for security screening and could significantly decrease the amount of plastic used at major UK airports, with passengers no longer required to put their liquids in plastic bags before being screened.

Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of UKHospitality and Chair of the Tourism Alliance said:

The new technology being rolled out should make for a smoother, more enjoyable passenger experience and will bolster the UK’s international reputation as traveller-friendly. Having passed through security more quickly, and with less hassle, passengers will be able to relax and begin to enjoy their holiday sooner.

Heathrow CEO, John Holland Kaye, said:

We’re proud to be at the forefront of this new generation security equipment. This technology will transform the passenger experience, making air travel simple, streamlined and more secure through the UK’s only hub airport.