WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden will travel to the United Kingdom and Ireland from April 11-14, the White House said on Wednesday.
Biden will first visit Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement before travelling to Ireland, where he will deliver an address to mark US-Irish ties.
Biden in Belfast intends “to underscore the readiness of the United States to support Northern Ireland’s vast economic potential to the benefit of all communities,” the White House said.
In late February, Britain and the European Union settled a festering dispute over Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland that ensures that there would be no new checks on goods crossing the land border between Northern Ireland and the republic to the south, which is part of the EU.
The agreement eased a source of tension between London and Washington. The Biden administration had voiced concern over the continued success of the Good Friday agreement which ended most of the violence in Northern Ireland that had prevailed since the late 1960s.
In Ireland, Biden will meet with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who visited the White House in mid-March for a traditional St Patrick’s Day visit.
Varadkar hailed the Biden visit as “an opportunity to welcome a great Irish-American President home.”
“Over many decades, and to this day, he has supported the cause of peace in Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement. He stood with us as we navigated the difficult consequences of Brexit,” Varadkar said.
“His visit is an opportunity to celebrate and renew the strong political, economic and personal ties that bind our two countries together,” he added.
Biden will visit Dublin, County Louth and County Mayo, “where he will deliver an address to celebrate the deep, historic ties that link our countries and people,” the White House said. — AFP
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