FOCUS – UK and Germany launch a new security partnership against hybrid threats

LONDON, 8 October /ATSH-DPA/ – British Prime Minister Andy Burnham will travel to Berlin today, where he will hold his first face-to-face meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

The two leaders will launch a new joint security partnership, aimed at confronting sabotage, cyberattacks and other hybrid threats from hostile states, particularly from Russia.

Hybrid threats means actions that a state can use to harm or destabilise a country, without necessarily waging a direct war.

For example, these include cyberattacks, sabotage of infrastructure, interference in important systems and other forms of pressure.

The new partnership will include the exchange of information and the coordination of actions to detect, prevent and disrupt these threats.

The two countries will also work to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure, such as energy networks, communications, transport and other systems important for the functioning of the country.

Burnham and Merz will also discuss support for Ukraine, how to respond to instability in the Middle East, and the consequences of the problems that have affected international trade routes, such as the Strait of Hormuz.

The two leaders will also hold a UK-Germany Regional Growth Forum, which will be attended by executives of major British and German companies.

The forum will focus on increasing investment, strengthening industrial cooperation and ensuring that the benefits of economic growth are felt by communities in both countries.

The Kensington Treaty, signed in July last year, will be formally ratified today.

This means that both countries will officially approve the agreement, committing themselves to deeper cooperation in science, technology, defence, security and economic development.

“Attacks on our infrastructure, our businesses and our democracies are not a distant threat,” Burnham said before the visit.

He added that these attacks directly affect people’s lives, homes and jobs, and aim to make societies weaker and more divided.

“The United Kingdom and Germany are joining forces to detect, expose and disrupt this activity,” he said.

According to Burnham, security and economic growth are linked to each other and both must bring benefits to people in the cities and communities of both countries.