UK-Germany economic, investment and innovation co-operation

In July 2025, the UK and Germany signed the Treaty on Friendship and Bilateral Cooperation (the ‘Kensington Treaty’), providing a significant upgrade to the bilateral relationship post-Brexit.

This high-level workshop, organised by OMFIF and the German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce, discusses practical issues arising from the treaty, especially in relation to UK-Germany defence co-operation, investment and innovation projects.

Joachim Nagel, President, Deutsche Bundesbank, provides opening remarks and discusses deepening UK-Germany economic co-operation and enhancing financial-market integration between the UK and its European partners.

Session I: Public financial institutions collaboration

• Deepening links between UK and German financial and development institutions to help mobilise private capital and develop well-functioning and sustainable markets.
• Sharing insights and best practice to enhance operational and financial performance, and seizing investment opportunities in areas of mutual interest.
• Can the Bundesbank, the European Central Bank and Bank of England harmonise regulations as far as possible regarding tokenisation, development of digital currencies and stablecoins to ensure that Europe gets maximum innovation benefits from digitalisation?
• How can greater co-operation between the UK and the EU bring about better outcomes in the development of European public goods such as infrastructure and energy?

Session II: Industrial defence co-operation and a strategic science and technology partnership

• Assessing whether financial constraints limits defence co-operation and how to best address them.
•  Reviewing areas for cross-border European funding for wider UK-German defence co-operation including through private equity and private markets.
• Enhancing UK-German innovation leadership via aligning public financial institutions and sharing best practices to mobilise private capital.
• Developing cutting-edge critical technologies to drive long-term economic growth.