Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary Cleverly hold joint news conference
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly hold a joint news conference at the State Department in Washington, DC.
Britain's top diplomat said that talks with the European Union had led to improvements in a row over Northern Ireland that had set off a political crisis, as the United States encouraged progress.
On leaving the European Union, Britain agreed to a protocol that lets Northern Ireland remain in the EU common market -- avoiding the reimposition of a hard border in Ireland that could have scuttled the peace that has largely prevailed since the 1998 Good Friday accord.
On a visit to Washington, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly indicated progress but declined to predict if institutions would be up and running again by the accord's 25th anniversary in April.
"The conversation is happening in good faith, very discreetly and that discretion I think has helped us make real improvements," Cleverly said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"We want to get this result as soon as possible," he said.
The agreement "over the past 25 years has been integral to preserving peace, stability and prosperity for the people of Northern Ireland," Blinken told a joint news conference.
"The United States believes that there must be a negotiated settlement to the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol that's acceptable to all sides, and we're heartened that, in recent days, the United Kingdom and the European Union have made substantive progress."
