Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of joining the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.

The UK and Canada share a common objective of strengthening Allied defence industrial capacity through closer international cooperation.

We have been working closely to consider how the Multilateral Defence Mechanism and Defence, Security and Resilience Bank can work together. We have agreed to develop a framework of cooperation between these initiatives and having mutually concluded that separate but complementary institutions, working in partnership, offer the most effective approach.

As the two institutions are operationalised, they are expected to work in close partnership to support emerging industrial priorities, investment opportunities and strategic financing challenges, helping to strengthen the defence industrial base and enhance Allied defence readiness.