US President Joe Biden begins his five-day visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland today. In Northern Ireland,
Biden to begin visit to Ireland and Northern Ireland – Photo: Sky News
US President Joe Biden begins his five-day visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland today.
In Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will welcome the US President, who plans to take part in events to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace accord. The US, which helped broker the deal in 1998, remains an influential intermediary in Northern Ireland’s politics and has worked to protect the peace from the tensions generated by Britain’s exit from the European Union. Though Biden had previously disagreed with the British government’s approach at times during Brexit talks, he recently spoke in support of a UK-EU deal, known as the Windsor Framework, that aims to mitigate some of the tensions caused by the original Brexit agreement.
Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland will likely be an opportunity to attract economic investment in the country, per Sunak’s anticipations. The UK Prime Minister has claimed that delivering economic growth to Northern Ireland is his priority in the post-Brexit era. As a part of this pledge to bring more private capital to territory, Sunak announced that the UK will host a Northern Ireland Investment Summit in Belfast in September.
