UK Finance Minister Advocates for EU Defence Spending Cooperation
LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister Rachel Reeves will call on her European Union counterparts on Friday to work more closely with Britain on defence financing in order to boost economic and national security.
Reeves will hold talks at the informal ECOFIN meeting of EU finance ministers in Warsaw, where she will argue for greater UK-EU cooperation on defence following Britain's move to increase annual defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.
Reeves said last month she wanted Britain to become a "defence industrial superpower" as she pumped an extra 2.2 billion pounds ($2.85 billion) into the sector, with a focus on new technology and innovation to drive the industry.
($1 = 0.7718 pounds)
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Alex Richardson)
