Positive relations with Meloni will continue with Burnham - British ambassador

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 22 - The good relations Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni had with previous British heads of government will continue with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, the UK's Ambassador to Italy Stephen Hickey told ANSA on Wednesday. "I warmly welcome the fact that Giorgia Meloni enjoyed such a positive relationship with Keir Starmer, and also with Rishi Sunak before him," Hickey, who took over at the embassy in Rome last month after previously being the British envoy in Iraq, told ANSA in an interview. "I am confident that Andy Burnham and Giorgia Meloni will get along well and will want to continue the strong, positive relationship that Premier Meloni enjoyed with her two predecessors. "I believe there are many things we can work on together. "Firstly, the security challenges posed by Russia and the question of how to strengthen NATO, as well as how to consolidate our relationship with the United States at such a critical time. "There's a lot they can work on together, and I believe we share the same interests and priorities in foreign policy. "So I'm very confident that Andy Burnham will have a very positive relationship with Giorgia Meloni". Hickey also expects Burnham to strengthen the UK's relations with Europe as a whole. "With all the changes happening in the world right now - the rise of China, disruptive new technologies like AI, and the changing relationship between the United States and Europe, with Europe taking on an increasingly important role in European security - it is more important than ever for democracies like the United Kingdom and Italy, and other major countries within the EU, to collaborate concretely, particularly on security, defence, and foreign policy," he said. He said this this process is already underway, citing the way European countries are cooperating on Ukraine. (ANSA).