The following is attributable to Spokesperson Clayton M. McCleskey:

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green met yesterday in London with the UK Secretary of State for International Development, the Right Honourable Penny Mordaunt, M.P., for the United States-UK Strategic Dialogue on Development.

Administrator Green and Secretary Mordaunt shared their mutual concern over reports of abuses by staff from charitable institutions, and reiterated the zero-tolerance policies both USAID and the UK Department of International Development have in regards to trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation, assault, and harassment. They agreed on the primacy of protecting beneficiaries, and exchanged information on what steps their respective organizations have taken in the last few days to investigate allegations of inappropriate conduct by implementing partners.

The Administrator and the Secretary of State lamented the increasing frequency and complexity of humanitarian crises around the world, most of which are man-made.  They discussed how to deepen U.S.-UK cooperation further in Burma and Bangladesh, South Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen to address urgent needs and support diplomatic efforts to find political solutions in these countries. 

The leaders also discussed opportunities for deepening U.S.-UK collaboration on private-sector engagement, resilience and preventing violent extremism in the Sahel, and global health financing.  The two agreed they would attempt to coordinate schedules to make a joint trip to Africa in 2018.