Prime Minister David Cameron has held talks with financial and business leaders in New York about opportunities to boost UK-US trade and invest in Britain.
The PM attended a roundtable event at the Nasdaq stock exchange with bank and investment firm bosses after arriving in the city for the second leg of his visit to the US.
Mr Cameron also met UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for discussions on topics such as Afghanistan, Iran, Burma and preparations for the Millennium Development Goals summit in September.
A Downing Street spokesman said:
“The leaders agreed that the current strategy in Afghanistan was right, and that a political surge was an essential part of the next phase of the campaign,” the spokesman said. On global poverty, they agreed that the September Millennium Development Goals Summit was a vital opportunity to get the world back on track to meet its commitments to the most vulnerable on the planet.
“The Prime Minister and the secretary general also discussed the Middle East. There was a clear consensus on the need for a concerted international effort to deliver a diplomatic solution on the Iran nuclear issue and on the need to implement the sanctions package agreed by the Security Council. They also urged both Israel and the Palestinians to engage in direct peace talks.”
Before leaving the US, the PM addressed senior members of the business community at a dinner hosted by the city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg. The two men had also met earlier when, following Mr Cameron’s arrival at Penn Station in New York, Mr Bloomberg took him for hotdogs at a nearby stand.
The PM started the day in Washington by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, a burial ground for US military personnel. Afterwards, he met British Armed Forces and civilian personnel based in Washington who have served in Afghanistan and other combat zones. Mr Cameron then went to the Pentagon for a briefing on Afghanistan.
Yesterday, the PM spoke of the importance of the UK-US relationship, including how closely troops from the two countries are working together in Afghanistan, in a joint press conference with President Barack Obama from the White House.
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