John Kerry and Philip Hammond to hold talks on defeating IS

Updated

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond will meet his American counterpart in London for the latest round of talks on defeating Islamic State (IS).

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is on a three day visit to the UK, has also promised to do more to help Europe deal with the refugee "human catastrophe".

Ahead of the meeting Mr Kerry said Russia and America "share the same goals" in the battle against IS, also known as Isil, in Syria.

"We share the same deep concern about Isil," he told Channel 4 News. "Isil needs to be destroyed, stopped completely."

He added: "The conversations with Russia right now are to de-conflict.

"The focus is to make certain that our efforts, which are going to continue, we are not abating one bit, we will increase in fact in the efforts we are making against Isil, and we need to make certain that those do not conflict with Russia's efforts against Isil so obviously it's important to have that conversation."

Mr Kerry said it was possible there would be more meetings on the issue.

"We share the same goals. We share the goal of ridding the region of Isil," he said.

"They allege that they also share the goal of a political transition that leads to a stable, whole, united secular Syria."

Mr Kerry said it was "absolutely essential" that rapid action was taken to deal with the refugee crisis in Europe.

He said: "It is a human catastrophe. It is also a moral challenge to everybody as to how people are dealt with.

"But you cannot deal with this just by taking in people, you have to go to the root causes."

Asked if he wanted the UK to remain part of the European Union, he said: "We want a Europe that is strong and whole and free, that is obviously a Europe of one voice with respect to something like the challenge of these migrants and the challenge of Syria."

The talks will also focus on the Middle East peace process and continuing instability in Ukraine.

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