 Good morning everybody, and you're very welcome to join this webinar with Wendy Morton, MP who is the minister for European neighborhood and the Americas in the United Kingdom. My name is Dahio Kallig and I'm the chair of the UK group in the Institute. You're very welcome to ask questions as we go through, you just use the question and answer button on your machine, and you can ask questions as we go through. Minister Morton will speak for about 20 minutes, and then we'll take a question and answer session and discussions until about 11 o'clock. Minister, thank you so much for coming, floor is yours. Thank you so much Dohy and it's, it's a pleasure to be able to join you all in Dublin this morning, albeit virtually who would have thought we'd be doing another conference virtually but at least it does give me this opportunity to speak with you today and I look forward to answering some questions a little, a little later. As the fight against COVID has required us to keep our distance conversations like this about the challenges around us, and how we best address them together are I think perhaps even more important than ever. So today I want to talk broadly about the UK's approach to the world, and about the importance of our relationship and cooperation with Ireland, which I then look forward to discussing with you. Last month, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson published our integrated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy. It's our most comprehensive statement of UK foreign and national security policy in decades, and it identified three overarching dangerous trends. The first is the erosion of the post World War two order, and the willingness of autocratic regimes to flex their muscles. We've seen this recently in Myanmar, where protesters have been brutally murdered by the authorities, and also in Hong Kong, with pro democracy figures sentenced under Beijing's national security law. In the last decade, the combined GDP of autocratic regimes is expected to exceed the combined GDP of the world's democracies. So tyranny will become richer than freedom. The second trend is the rise in sophisticated attacks, both on the ground, and in cyberspace, which fall short of our conflict. We saw this unfold on the streets of South Africa, where we saw the rise of autocratic regimes, and the rise of autocratic regimes, and the rise of autocratic regimes. The third trend is the rise in sophisticated attacks, both on the ground, and in cyberspace, which fall short of our conflict. We saw this unfold on the streets of Salisbury three years ago, where Russian agents recklessly carried out a deadly nerve agent attack. In cyberspace, as our national assets and critical infrastructure and those of our allies are increasingly coming under attack from hostile states and criminals. And the third trend of our times is perhaps the most dangerous. The range of existential threats that endanger large swathes of the world's population, and even the planet itself. We have lived with the possibility of catastrophic climate change, devastating pandemics, and the further proliferation of deadly weapons. In the face of these challenges, our policy review set out four broad objectives to keep ourselves and our allies safe. The first is to contribute to innovative solutions to the challenges we all face by investing in science and technology, and by acting as a responsible cyber power. The second is to help shape the international order by acting as a force for good in the world, defending democracy and human rights, and championing the free flow of trade, knowledge and capital as the best way to drive economic growth for all. The third is to strengthen security and defence, both at home and overseas by investing in our capabilities and by building alliances to counter transnational threats such as conflict and instability, terrorism, serious and organized crime, and the proliferation of advanced military technologies. Our fourth objective is to build resilience at home and overseas to the threats that we face. This means investing time and resources to find global solutions that shield the world from climate change, that protect biodiversity, and that bolster healthcare systems. And the thread drawing all of this together is the need to deepen our relationships with our allies and our partners around the world. The integrated review sets out a vision of the UK as an energetic and committed international partner. This is the antithesis of the mischievous portrayal by some of Brexit as an inward facing step. Certainly our commitment to European security and to cooperating with our European neighbors is absolute. Our partnership with Ireland rightly received special focus in the integrated review, and you are listed alongside the US, France and Germany as a key partner. There are many reasons for this, which I'll come to later, but uniquely among our shared interests as a common travel area, and our overriding commitment to uphold the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. The UK government is fully committed to ensuring that Northern Ireland remains open, peaceful, prosperous and stable. Recent unrest does not reflect the true spirit of Northern Ireland, the creativity, the optimism and the determination to never return to the conflict and divisions of the past. We cannot allow the progress that we have made to be undermined by a small minority intent on violence. The hard won gains from peace ushered in a new era of prosperity for Northern Ireland, and safeguarding that prosperity is a vital part of safeguarding the stability created by the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. That prosperity relies on Northern Ireland continuing to have ready access to its largest market in the rest of the UK, as well as to markets in Ireland and the wider EU. I know you will have a special interest in the protocol on Ireland, Northern Ireland. As you know, it is a unique and delicately balanced solution to a unique and sensitive set of problems. And we have to find ways to implement it, which uphold the Belfast Good Friday Agreement in all its dimensions, both east west, as well as north south. As the protocol sets out, the aim is to minimize impact on the day-to-day lives of people in Northern Ireland, hence our intention to implement it in a pragmatic and proportionate way. As you know, it has become clear since the protocol has been enforced that there have been issues that have adversely and disproportionately affected people. It is critical that these issues are addressed in order to restore confidence on the ground, which is why in March the UK government took some temporary practical measures to maintain the flow of goods such as food and parcels. Those measures were lawful and part of our good faith implementation of the protocol, and they sought to provide the time and space for discussions to progress. Since then, we've proposed a work programme to the EU as the first step to work together through all the issues that remain. And my colleague Lord Frost met Ireland's Foreign Minister and the Commission Vice President just last week. And I'm glad to report that while difficult issues remain, both meetings were productive and they were solution orientated. And that's the spirit in which we want to work on this delicate and important challenge. It's not only the interest that we share at home that led us to identify Ireland as a key partner. Globally, we have many shared interests too. And I believe it's our common interests and values that make our partnership a real force for good in the world. Which is why we must continue to work together in the UN Security Council and beyond to repair and reinforce the fraying international order. To turn the tide against those who would seek to undermine the rules based order and promote division. To protect human rights. To hold to account those responsible for breaches of international law. To promote gender equality and to prevent conflict and the atrocities that we see all too frequently in fragile states and conflict zones such as Tigray, South Sudan and Syria. I pay tribute to the contribution Ireland has made to peacekeeping missions for more than half a century, protecting civilians around the world. We were grateful for the support and expertise provided by the Irish Defence Forces, particularly the Army Ranger Wing and the Irish UN Training School to our 300 strong Manusma force, which deployed to Marley late last year. And whilst I know our ambitions were somewhat curtailed by COVID travel restrictions, I hope our respective peacekeepers can resume training together as the situation eases. In addition to peacekeeping, we want to work with Ireland and explore broader opportunities for cooperation on development issues to help realise the sustainable development goals by 2030 to getting 40 million more girls into school by 2025. And to support global health systems. A key tenet of the integrated review is contributing to scientific and technological innovation. This requires continued collaboration between our researchers and scientists, including through Horizon Europe. It also demands that we work closely in cyberspace and we stand ready to work with all governments and in partnership with industry to ensure that cyberspace is governed by rules and norms that enhance collective security, promote democratic values and support global economic growth. It's important that open democracies work together to uphold the rule of law in cyberspace and to hold states to account for irresponsible behavior. We also have much to gain from working together to tackle climate change at COP26 in Glasgow and beyond. And we warmly welcome Ireland's vision by doubling the proportion of development aid spent on climate finance by 2030, of halving carbon emissions this decade and its ambition to reach net zero by 2050. It's also important that we work together to make climate security a continuing focus of the UN Security Council. So, from the well-being of our planet to the well-being of its people, there is so much good that Ireland and the UK are doing together and can achieve together. We have a unique partnership. It's found by unparalleled common interests and countless ties to families and friendship. And this can be a force for good for many years to come. And I certainly look forward to discussing this with you this morning. Thank you.