US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Britain and the European Union to manage their divorce responsibly for the sake of global markets and citizens, a day before he was to become the first senior American official to visit London and Brussels since the UK's historic referendum.
Mr Kerry emphasised the importance of thoughtful cooperation at a time of economic uncertainty and fears about crumbling European unity. He said he would bring a message of US support to both capitals. But he offered no concrete suggestions for how the two sides should make good on the decision by British voters to leave the 28-nation bloc.
"The most important thing is that all of us, as leaders, work together to provide as much continuity, as much stability, as much certainty as possible," Mr Kerry said as he met in Rome with Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni.
Responsible handling of the situation, he said, will help "the marketplace understand there are ways to minimise disruption, there are ways to smartly move ahead in order to protect the values and interests that we share."
Mr Kerry had scheduled talks in Rome with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Sunday. But confronted with the gravity of Britain's vote on Thursday, which crushed markets from the US to Japan, Mr Kerry set up a frantic, four-nation schedule for Monday.
