US president Joe Biden has said it is his “intention” to go to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, after receiving a formal invitation from UK prime minister Rishi Sunak.
The two leaders met at Naval Base Point Loma, in San Diego, California, after the US, UK and Australia unveiled a decades-long project to supply Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines in an effort to counter China.
Ahead of their bilateral meeting, Sunak invited Biden to Northern Ireland to commemorate the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
“I know it’s something very special and personal to you. We’d love to have you over,” Sunak said.
Biden, an Irish-American who spent decades in the US Senate as a member of the legislature’s foreign relations committee, replied: “Twenty-five years. It seems like yesterday, seems like yesterday. Anyway, thank you.”
When a reporter asked Biden if he would be going to Northern Ireland, the president replied: “It’s my intention to go to Northern Ireland and the Republic.”
Speaking to reporters at the weekend on his way to San Diego, Sunak said he was “keen” to invite Biden to Britain for the anniversary celebrations, which will centre around several days of events in mid-April at Queens University Belfast.
“Hopefully, he will be able to make it,” Sunak said.
The Good Friday Agreement was signed on 10 April 1998, ending decades of conflict in Northern Ireland. The complex talks that led to the agreement were chaired by US special envoy George Mitchell.
More recently, the White House and legislators from both the Democratic and Republican parties have been adamant that any post-Brexit trading arrangements would not violate the Good Friday Agreement.
When it was announced last month Biden welcomed the Windsor framework, which sets out ways to smooth the working of the so-called Northern Ireland protocol. Legislators described the deal as alleviating a main source of tension between Washington and London. The agreement also raised hopes on both sides of the Atlantic for reinvigorated trade talks between the UK and the US.
Sunak at the weekend described the Windsor framework as a “positive step”, adding: “I was very keen to try and bring resolution to some of the challenges of the protocol and . . . do the right thing for the people and businesses there.”
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