Johnson also briefly appeared at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Libya and took part in a vote on a resolution to remove that country’s chemical weapons stockpiles and send them to third-party countries for destruction.
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“But be in no doubt that this is something where everybody wishes to make fast progress on in the economic interests both of Britain and the European Union”, he added.
Johnson, speaking to reporters in NY and the United Nations headquarters, also said Britain has been approached by several countries interested in trade deals after UK voters chose last month in a referendum to secede from the European Union.
“Let me just reassure you, and reassure everyone on that point – I think that Article Five in the NATO Treaty of 1948, the doctrine of mutual defense, is incredibly important”, Johnson said.
Johnson stressed that leaving the European Union doesn’t mean leaving Europe. “We are going to be more committed than ever before to cooperation and participation and support for other European countries, whether through defense policy, coordination of foreign policy or counterterrorism. the United Kingdom is going to be more visible, more active, more energetic than ever before”.
The foreign secretary said the “mood had changed” in Europe and around the world in the weeks following the shock result of the referendum “as understanding starts to break in”. In other words, he sees this, and the United States see this, as an opportunity to have more of a role on the world stage, and I really agree with him.
While he was at the United Nations, news came of the shooting attack at a shopping mall in Munich, Germany.
“It’s very likely this is another terrorist incident”, he said.
First, London offers the deepest pools of liquidity, talent and skill for the capital-formation needs of businesses across Europe, he said.
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Later, in a TV interview, Mr Johnson said: “We’ve got to deal with the whole cancer and its ability to spread and to metastasize, to pop up all over the world in the way that we’ve been seeing”. “We have to ask ourselves what is going on, how the switch is being thrown in the minds of these people, exactly what the psychological processes are”. He was in NY to meet with business leaders and then see U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other diplomats at the world body’s headquarters. He stressed to the gathered press, that Britain play a “leading role in trying to bring solutions whether through diplomacy, or politically or peacekeeping”.
