British foreign secretary vows a "deal" with Europe to balance migration, trade

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, promising "there's a deal to be done" on balancing freedom of movement and trade with members of the European Union, said here Friday the United Kingdom (UK) was going to "be more visible, more active more energetic that ever before" on the international stage.

Johnson was on a whirlwind first visit in his new position to UN headquarters in New York where he voted in the Security Council for a unanimously passed resolution to destroy chemical weapons in Libya and then met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the shadow of the Munich shootings where they discussed counter-terrorism.

Asked about balancing control of European Union migration and access to a single market, Johnson told reporters outside the Security Council chamber, "I have absolutely no doubt that that balance can be struck and over the next few weeks we'll be discussing that in the government and with our European friends and partners."

"But be in no doubt that this is something where everybody wishes to make fast progress on in the economic interests both of Britain and the European Union," he added. "I think there is very much a deal there to be done and the faster we can get on and do it the better."

He emphasized Britain would not be withdrawing from it's global role because it is leaving the European Union, or Brexit.

"When we talk about Brexit and Britain leaving the European Union," Johnson said, "This is not Britain leaving Europe more widely understood. We are going to be more committed than ever before to cooperation and participation and support for other European countries, whether through defense policy, coordination of foreign policy or counterterrorism ... the UK is going to be more visible, more active, more energetic than ever before."

"I think it is quite striking over the last few weeks since the referendum result how the mood has changed in other European countries and around the world how the understanding starts to break in and people see the opportunities and the positive side of this as well," he said. "So, I have been very, very encouraged by the conversations I've had with other European colleagues, I've had over the last week or so whether in Brussels or here in the United States."

The foreign secretary met with the secretary-general in his 38th floor office as reports of the Munich mall attack were coming in.

"It's very likely this is another terrorist incident," he said. "I think it proves once again that we have global phenomenon now and a global sickness that we have to tackle both at source where the cancer is being incubated in the Middle East but also of course around the world."

"We're seeing the spillover effects in Europe in Asia, we're seeing it in Australasia," he said. "It is a global phenomenon and we need to tackle it globally and that means dealing with the symptoms and the process of radicalization."

Johnson was asked what he thought the root causes were for the most recent terrorist attacks.

"When you look, for instance, at what has happened in Nice or the attack with an axe, for instance, on a German train, you are seeing banal instruments turned into instruments of terror and people being radicalized with appalling ease," he replied. "We have to ask ourselves what is going on, how the switch is being thrown in the minds of these people, exactly what the psychological processes are."

"Anger is spreading and metastasizing, we need to cut it off at the source and we need to stop it from spreading," Johnson said.

On his meeting with Ban, the foreign secretary said they talked about the problems in Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia -- all countries affected by conflict.

"These are all countries in which the United Kingdom is playing a leading role in trying to bring solutions, whether through diplomacy or politically or peacekeeping, the United Kingdom is at the forefront of that effort," he said. "It was very much (Ban's) wish that the UK should play an ever-greater role through the UN and be at the forefront of world affairs in showing leadership."

"I was very glad to reaffirm our determination to work with the UN to deliver that," Johnson added.

Asked how he found his new post, the former mayor of London replied, "I've hugely enjoyed my first week as a diplomat." Enditem