Good Friday Agreement: US president Joe Biden planning NI visit
Joe Biden with Rishi Sunak in California
US President Joe Biden has said he intends to visit Northern Ireland after being invited to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Biden said it was his intention to visit both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
He was speaking at a joint press conference in California with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
More details of the visit are expected to be revealed in the coming days.
Mr Sunak said: “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.
“I know it’s something very special and personal to you. we’d love to have you over.”
Image source, Getty Images/Saul Loeb
The peace deal was signed on 10 April 1998 and was designed to bring an end to three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland.
Mr Biden said: “Twenty-five years? It seems like yesterday.”
“It’s my intention to go to Northern Ireland and the Republic,” he added.
Mr Sunak said: “It’s great that we’re going to see each other a lot over the next few months. I was pleased to accept the president’s invitation to visit him in DC in June.”
As announcements of presidential visits go, this one was low key.
Confirmation was slipped out during a joint news conference between President Biden and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Standing at two podiums alongside the Australian Prime Minister at a naval base in San Diego, Mr Sunak extended the invitation and the president simply accepted it.
All done and dusted in seconds with no great fanfare.
Both men were there to sign a deal to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.
The invitation for the president to come to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement felt like an add-on.
But it ends weeks of speculation.
Although he did not provide much detail, it is expected that President Biden will be in Northern Ireland in the middle of next month and will take part in the anniversary celebrations organised by Queen’s University Belfast.
It was rumoured he had hoped to address MLAs at Stormont in a restored assembly but that feels unlikely.
The former speaker Alex Maskey had extended an invitation.
The US president has long taken a close interest in the peace process in Northern Ireland.
During a St Patrick’s Day event in 2022 with then Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin, the president reaffirmed his government’s support for the Good Friday Agreement.
He warned too much “blood, sweat and tears” have been shed to get the deal done.
Image source, PA Media
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak boarding a plane to San Diego for his meeting with the US President and the Australian prime minister
What is the Good Friday Agreement?
The prime minister at the time, Tony Blair, and then taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern sign the Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, was a political deal designed to bring an end to 30 years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.
It was signed on 10 April 1998 and approved by public votes in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
It is based on the idea of co-operation between communities and helped to set up a new government for Northern Ireland, representing both nationalists and unionists.
The 25th anniversary of the deal will fall on 10 April 2023, which will be Easter Monday.
Mr Biden and Mr Sunak spoke of the trip to Northern Ireland following the announcement of the Aukus submarine pact.
Mr Sunak insisted his new Windsor Framework deal with the EU was a “great step forward” for Northern Ireland, with hopes it could ease tensions with Democrats in the US and pave the way for trade talks.
But the Prime Minister downplayed the focus on a free trade deal with the US, telling GB News: “America is always, and has always been for a long time, our closest economic relationship, it’s our single biggest trade partner.”
Asked if the trade deal is off the table, Mr Sunak said: “It’s just people should actually know that our relationship with America economically is very strong, our exports are growing massively anyway and we’re concluding agreements with states.”
What are NI’s plans for the 25th anniversary?
More details of Mr Biden’s cross-border visit are expected to be released in the coming days as he prepares to host the St Patrick’s Day events in the White House.
The president is also expected to visit Ballina in County Mayo – the place his ancestors left in the 1850s bound for the US.
Earlier this week, both Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and Ulster University (UU) announced events to mark the anniversary.
Large-scale silent video portraits of the 14 politicians who negotiated the peace deal will be displayed at UU’s Belfast campus from 15 to 20 April.
Other events by UU include a new leadership programme, a tourism summit and an education project based on journalist Lyra McKee’s legacy.
A three-day conference to mark the event will take place on QUB’s campus from 17 April.
The guest list has not yet been confirmed but will include “local, national and international political figures”.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-64945943?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
