US President Joe Biden has said he “intends” to go to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, after accepting an official invitation from British prime minister Rishi Sunak.
The two leaders met at Naval Base Point Loma, in San Diego, California, after the US, UK and Australia launched a decades-long project to provide Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines in an effort to counter China.
Before the bilateral meeting, Sunak invited Biden to Northern Ireland to commemorate the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which will be a few days of events in mid-April at Queen’s University Belfast.
“I know this is very special and personal for you. I am happy to meet you,” said Sunak.
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, like yesterday. Anyway, thank you.”
When reporters asked Biden if he would go to Northern Ireland, the president replied: “My intention is to go to Northern Ireland and the Republic.”
In a Twitter post, taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it was “great news that President Biden is planning to visit Ireland in the near future”.
The Irish leader said he would discuss the visit with Biden when he meets him this week at the White House for St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Micheál Martin, the foreign minister, told reporters that Biden’s commitment to the Good Friday Agreement “has been extraordinary”.
Northern Ireland’s first minister-designate, Michelle O’Neill, said she would be delighted to welcome Biden to Belfast.
“The US has been a key partner for peace in Ireland and this visit demonstrates its continued commitment, which is greatly appreciated,” he said in a statement.
O’Neill also called for Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party to rejoin the region’s power-sharing executive as soon as possible. The DUP has boycotted the political institution at Stormont since May in a row over post-Brexit trading rules.
The Good Friday Agreement was signed on April 10 1998, ending decades of conflict in Northern Ireland. The complex talks that led to the agreement were led by US special envoy George Mitchell.
More recently, the White House and lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties have insisted that any post-Brexit trade arrangements will not violate the agreement.
When it was announced last month, Biden welcomed the Windsor framework, which sets out how to launch the so-called Northern Ireland protocol. Lawmakers described the deal as reducing a major source of tension between Washington and London. It also raised hopes on both sides of the Atlantic for reinvigorated trade negotiations between the UK and the US.
Sunak at the weekend described the Windsor framework as a “positive step”, adding: “I am very keen to try and bring a resolution to some of the challenges of the protocol and . . . do the right thing for people and businesses there.”
Additional reporting by Jude Webber in Dublin