ENGLAND / GERMANY – The UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab and German foreign minister Heiko Maas, today, June 30, 2021, signed a Joint Declaration on foreign and security policy cooperation.
The Joint Declaration sets out shared UK-Germany priorities and ambitions on a range of issues including climate change, China and the Indo-Pacific and shared values. It is the first such bilateral agreement between the UK and Germany on foreign and security policy issues.
The Joint Declaration comes as the UK prepares to welcome German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the UK for an official visit on Friday.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab, said: “Germany is an essential ally and together we are tackling global issues from climate change to humanitarian crises. The Joint Declaration will strengthen our bilateral co-operation on foreign and security policy for years to come.”
Over 20 named issues are covered by the Joint Declaration, demonstrating UK-German commitment to continue to provide leadership on issues of global importance.
These include the shared desire to strengthen cooperation in humanitarian affairs in order to respond better to humanitarian crises, including seeking to agree coordinated action to unblock humanitarian access and protection constraints in countries at risk of famine and strengthen anticipatory approaches to crisis.
The Declaration also establishes an annual foreign minister Strategic Dialogue, which will “assure a high level of cooperation and coordination on all matters of foreign policy”.
Germany is the UK’s second-biggest trading partner and every fifth international publication by German scientists is in collaboration with UK institutions. The UK and Germany cooperate closely on foreign and security policy issues both bilaterally and through multilateral bodies such as NATO, the G7 and the United Nations. Germany will take over the G7 Presidency from the UK next year.