A JOINT statement has been issued by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Prime Minister Keir Starmer outlining their commitments to strengthen relations between Britain and Ireland.
The pair issued the document, which consists of more than 30 pledges designed to improve the ties between the two nations, after attending the first UK-Ireland Summit which took place in Liverpool today.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Micheál Martin pictured at the inaugural UK-Ireland Summit in Liverpool this morningThe points centre on plans for the UK and Ireland to “work together at home and across the globe” as well as "ensuring a strategic and efficient approach to our shared maritime space to mobilise investment, to support a healthy marine environment and provide clean energy for our islands".
They have further committed to act as "agile, open economies, working together to attract investment and innovate from knowledge and accelerate growth" while also "developing the deep ties between our people and cultures".
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Micheál Martin led a roundtable discussion this morning during the first UK-Ireland Summit in Liverpool"This Joint Statement represents the starting point for a strengthened relationship between the UK and Ireland, informed by our co-guarantorship of the Good Friday Agreement, and to be taken forward through an ambitious programme of co-operation between our two countries through to 2030," they said in a statement issued this afternoon.
"The time has come to commit anew to delivering on the promise of our unique partnership to the benefit of current and future generations living across these islands," they added.
"Our renewed programme of co-operation will be taken forward in a spirit of respect and affinity, and by a shared ambition to reach the potential of our partnership across our islands, recognising that, in a changing world beyond our shores, the benefits and significance of a stronger and more settled relationship between our two countries have never been greater."
Among the commitments made today, the British and Irish Government leaders announced their intention to establish an Ireland-UK Youth Forum.
"We recognise that to reach the potential of our partnership across these islands, we need to understand and respond to the aspirations and views of young people," they explained.
They added that the new Forum would "bring together young people across these islands on an annual basis to discuss issues of importance to them and to make recommendations about how they can be addressed for consideration by both our governments".
A UK-Ireland 2030 Steering Group, led by the UK Cabinet Office and Ireland's Department of the Taoiseach, will now be established to action the commitments made in today's joint statement.
You can read the commitments made in the joint statement in full here.
