US will maintain special relationship with UK: Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States will maintain special relationship with the United Kingdom in the wake the British exit from the European Union (EU).

Kerry, who is on a tour of Brussels and London, made the remarks on Monday, days after British citizens voted in the historic referendum to leave the EU, a bloc that the UK joined more than 40 years ago.

Kerry called on EU members not to "lose their head" or be "revengeful" after Britain's decision to leave the 28-nation bloc.

"I think it is absolutely essential that we stay focused on how, in this transitional period, nobody loses their head, nobody goes off half-cocked, people don't start ginning up scatterbrain or revengeful premises," he said.

Kerry said Washington and Brussels must "look for ways to maintain the strength that will serve the interests and the values that brought us together in the first place. And that is what is important."

The top US diplomat also said that despite Britain's decision to leave the EU a "strong EU" remained vital for the United States.

"The United States cares about a strong EU," he said. "It is through the strength of those countries coming together that we are able to make good things happen."

Kerry also said that Britain's vote to leave the EU will not impact a summit next month of the NATO military alliance, predicting "an even stronger NATO going forward.”

He was speaking before heading to London to meet outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Minister Philip Hammond.

In the June 23 referendum, about 52 percent of British voters opted to leave the EU, while roughly 48 percent of the people voted to stay in the union. More than 17.4 million Britons said the country should leave the bloc, as just over 16.14 million others favored remaining in the EU.

Membership of the EU has been a controversial issue in the UK since the country joined the then European Economic Community in 1973.

Those in favor of a British withdrawal from the EU argued that outside the bloc, London would be better positioned to conduct its own trade negotiations, better able to control immigration and free from what they believe to be excessive EU regulations and bureaucracy.

Those in favor of remaining in the bloc argued that leaving it would risk the UK's prosperity, diminish its influence over world affairs, and result in trade barriers between the UK and the EU.

Kerry said on Monday that the Brexit vote "did not come out the way that President Obama and I and others hoped that it would, but that’s democracy and we respect the rights of the voters and we respect the process." 

“So it is now incumbent on leaders to implement the will of the people and to do so in a way that is responsible, sensitive, thoughtful and, I hope, strategic," he added. 

“I think it’s important to note that ever since World War Two we have been working all of us together on the development of a structure to be able to make our countries stronger and to be able to deliver a good life, benefits to our people," he said.

“The interests and the values which have united us for such a long period of time did not change on the day of that vote," he emphasized. 

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