UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attend a signing ceremony of a wide-ranging bilateral cooperation treaty in London. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is making his first visit to the UK since taking office in May, as he and Keir Starmer meet to finalise a bilateral cooperation treaty that will target smuggling gangs and boost defence ties. Report by Gluszczykm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
00:00It's a historic moment that celebrates the strength and depth of the bilateral relationship between our countries and our peoples, now and for the future.
00:30Well, let me begin, Chancellor, by welcoming you to London, to the United Kingdom.
00:43It is a fantastic thing, and it's a privilege to have you here today, particularly to sign this Kensington Treaty, which is a very special treaty because it's the first of its kind ever, if you can believe it, between our two countries.
00:59And I see it very much as evidence of the closeness of our relationship as it stands today, the strength of our values, the strength of our joint approach, but also very much as a statement of intent, a statement of our ambition to work ever more closely together, closest of allies, and whether that's on defence, security, trade, the economy, energy, covers so much in this treaty.
01:23And so this is a really historic signing of a historic agreement, and it's very, very good to welcome you here in order to do so.
