Mr Hague and Mrs Clinton met ahead of President Obama’s arrival in the UK The relationship between the UK and the United States is “unique and indispensable”, Foreign Secretary William Hague has said.
In a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mr Hague said the two countries stood side by side on issues like the Middle East peace process.
Mrs Clinton said the US and UK had “a great working relationship”.
US President Barack Obama will arrive in the UK on Monday night.
Earlier, it was announced that the UK and US were setting up a joint body, the National Security Strategy Board, to look at threats from terrorism and rogue states.
Mr Hague and Mrs Clinton held talks on Monday afternoon on a range of foreign policy matters, including the recent political unrest in countries like Libya, Syria, Sudan and Yemen.
There has been criticism in some quarters that the US is taking a back seat in the Nato-led effort to protect the Libyan population from attacks by Col Gaddafi’s forces.
But Mrs Clinton said the US continued to fly 25% of all daily sorties over Libya, while Mr Hague said no-one should “underestimate in any way the huge contribution the United States has made”.
Last week, following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Obama said any future Palestinian state must be based on the borders that existed prior to the 1967 war.
Mr Hague has already welcomed that statement and he re-iterated that at the news conference, while stressing the urgent need for action.
“Time is running out for a two-state solution and the initiative must be seized now,” he said.
Mrs Clinton added: “Now is the time, in this period of great upheaval, there is an opportunity to come to a successful outcome.”
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