Rishi Sunak will greet Joe Biden off the plane when he arrives in Belfast for his visit to mark 25 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement
- Rishi Sunak will meet Joe Biden as he steps off Air Force One on Tuesday evening
Joe Biden will be met by the Prime Minister when he arrives in Belfast this week.
The US President is visiting Northern Ireland to mark 25 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Rishi Sunak will greet him when he steps off Air Force One on Tuesday evening, Downing Street said yesterday.
Mr Sunak said his hopes for a better future for the province were at the forefront of his mind ahead of the anniversary.
Mr Biden’s visit comes after the region’s terror threat level was raised. Northern Ireland also still has no government after power-sharing collapsed over Brexit disagreements.
Joe Biden will be met by the Prime Minister when he arrives in Belfast this week. They are pictured together in San Diego last month
Mr Biden, who is proud of his Irish heritage and the US role in brokering peace, will take part in a series of engagements, including a formal meeting with the Prime Minister.
The Good Friday Agreement, signed on April 10, 1998, ended 30 years of conflict known as the Troubles, in which more than 3,500 people were killed.
In a statement, Mr Sunak said the deal marked an ‘incredible moment’ in UK history.
He added: ‘It was a powerfully rare example of people doing the previously unthinkable to create a better future for Northern Ireland.
‘It is that promise of a better future that we offered to everyone in Northern Ireland that I will be thinking of first and foremost over the coming days. It is my responsibility as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to ensure we are making good on that promise.’
Mr Sunak said he is ‘relentlessly focused’ on delivering economic growth for Northern Ireland. He is set to use the visit to drum up investment for it and announce the UK will host a Northern Ireland Investment Summit in September.
The US President is visiting Northern Ireland to mark 25 years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement
He will address the Agreement 25 conference, which will reflect on the deal’s social and economic legacy, at Queen’s University Belfast on April 19, before hosting a gala dinner.
A policing operation costing around £7million involving 300 officers will be under way around the anniversary.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has warned of potential dissident Republican attacks on officers in Londonderry on Easter Monday.
MI5 recently raised the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.
Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson insisted the vacuum caused by his party’s refusal to re-enter Stormont is not to blame.
In February 2022, the party withdrew support for power-sharing institutions formed by the agreement over post-Brexit trading arrangements. On Wednesday, Mr Biden will head to the Republic of Ireland.
Source: Read Full Article
