British Prime Minister David Cameron and visiting French Prime Minister Manuel Valls met at Downing Street on Monday, discussing economy, the future of Europe and the battle against the Islamic State (IS).

The two leaders were joined by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne for "productive discussions", which lasted around 45 minutes, a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement following the meeting.

On the economy, the leaders "discussed their own domestic approaches and the Prime Minister set out steps the UK government has taken to encourage foreign investment and to help businesses expand here," the statement added.

The leaders agreed on the need for the European Union (EU) institutions to focus on measures that will stimulate growth and to use the EU budget to support national infrastructure and regeneration projects as well as the need for better regulation at EU level, it said.

Cameron and Valls also discussed the challenge of tackling voters' "disillusionment" with the EU and the importance of the EU proving "how it can help people across all EU member states."

Cameron raised the issue of free movement and reiterated his view that this should not be an unqualified right, the statement noted.

At the meeting, they also discussed the measures both countries have already implemented to tackle "abuse," and agreed that interior ministers should continue to work together in the area.

On tackling IS, the two sides discussed efforts by the international community to defeat IS in both Iraq and Syria and agreed on the importance of pursuing and strengthening defense cooperation, according to the Downing Street spokesperson.

Cameron and Valls also discussed how the two countries could work together to tackle the threat posed by foreign fighters in terms of preventing travel and tackling radicalization at home.

"The agreed on the importance of European countries sharing best practice on these issues and the need to persuade MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) to adopt new rules that would enable countries to share more information on passengers traveling between European countries," the statement continued.

"This would be a vital tool in tackling the threat posed by returning foreign fighters," it added. Endit

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