SAN DIEGO — U.S. President Joe Biden has accepted a formal invitation from Rishi Sunak to visit Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement next month.
The U.K. prime minister extended the invite as the two leader met for talks as part of the AUKUS submarine program at the Point Loma naval base in San Diego, California.
Sunak told the president: “I look forward to our conversations and also, importantly, to invite you to Northern Ireland, which hopefully you will be able to do, and so we can commemorate the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
” know it’s something very special and personal to you. We would love to have you over.”
Biden replied: “Twenty-five years? It seems like yesterday.”
Accepting the invitation, he added: “It is my intention to go to Northern Ireland and the Republic.”
The U.S. president’s presence at the Good Friday Agreement ceremonies had appeared in some question until Sunak brokered the Windsor Framework with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol, the hotly-disputed post-Brexit trading arrangement.
With Irish antecedents, Biden pays close attention to developments in Northern Ireland, and had made clear his displeasure at the standoff over the protocol.
He is due to host politicians from both sides of the border in the White House Friday as part of the annual St. Patrick’s Day commemorations.
Sunak later said Biden had invited him to make a return visit to Washington in June.
