US vice president Joe Biden is due to hold talks with Prime Minister David Cameron and will attend a meeting of the National Security Council during a visit to London next week.
Britain is the final stop on a European tour which began today in Berlin, where Mr Biden was meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel, and will also take in talks with French president Francois Hollande in Paris.
Also likely to be on the agenda are the security situation in north Africa, Iran's nuclear programme and the continuing uprising in Syria.
The US Embassy in London confirmed that Biden will meet Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on his arrival in the UK on Tuesday, before having a working lunch with Cameron in 10 Downing Street and attending the weekly NSC meeting.
Biden and his wife Jill will depart for Washington that evening.
The visit comes shortly after President Barack Obama raised concerns over Cameron's plans to hold an in/out referendum on EU membership, telling the Prime Minister in a phone call that the US "values a strong UK in a strong European Union".
In January, before Cameron delivered his speech, US assistant secretary of state for European affairs Phil Gordon warned Britain against turning “inwards” with a referendum.
"We have a growing relationship with the EU as an institution, which has an increasing voice in the world, and we want to see a strong British voice in that EU,” he told journalists during a London briefing.
And President Obama’s press secretary Jay Carney recently told reporters in Washington that the White House believed the UK was “stronger” as a member of the EU.
“We welcome the prime minister’s call for Britain to remain in the EU and to retain a leading role in Europe’s institutions,” he said.
“And as the President told the prime minister when they spoke last week, the United States values a strong United Kingdom and a strong European Union.
“We value our essential relationship with the UK., as well as our relationship with the European Union, which makes critical contributions to peace, prosperity, and security in Europe and around the world.
“We believe that the United Kingdom is stronger as a result of its European Union membership, and we believe the European Union is stronger as a result of having the United Kingdom in the EU.”
He added: “So that's - our views on this are very clear.”
