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U.S. President Joe Biden’s two-day visit to London next week follows a visit to Washington by British Prime Minister Riushi Sunak (L) in June. File photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI
July 3 (UPI) — U.S. President Joe Biden will arrive in London on Sunday for a two-day visit to meet with King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the White House said.
Biden’s trip to “further strengthen the close relationship between our nations,” was part of a five-day visit to three allies in northern Europe, the White House said in a statement Sunday. The president will be in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 11-12 for the 74th NATO Summit before going on to Helsinki, Finland, for a U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit on July 13.
“More details about the trip will be announced soon,” said Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
The meeting with King Charles is scheduled for Monday, July 10, at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace confirmed.
Downing Street said Biden’s visit reflected “the strong relationship” between Britain and the United States.
“The prime minister looks forward to welcoming President Biden in the U.K. later this month,” a Downing Street spokesman said.
“This reflects the strong relationship between the U.K. and the U.S., building on a series of bilateral visits and meetings earlier this year.”
The meeting with Charles will be the first since his coronation in May where the United States was represented by first lady Jill Biden. The Bidens both attended Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral at Westminster Abbey in September.
Biden accepted an invitation for a state visit from Charles in April but next week’s short visit follows a two-day trip by Sunak to Washington in June, which yielded an “Atlantic declaration” under which the two countries agreed to more closely cooperate on emerging technologies and energy transition.
Biden and Sunak also met in Belfast in April for events to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement where Biden said that ensuring the peace deal and the Windsor Framework on post-Brexit Northern Ireland-EU trading arrangements remained in place were the top priorities of his visit.
He also called for power-sharing between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein to be restored in the Legislative Assembly at Stormont — a plea that has so far gone unheeded. The DUP has boycotted the legislative body for 16 months, arguing the Anglo-EU Windsor Framework signed in February does not adequately address their concerns about post-Brexit trading arrangements.
The boycott means the country is effectively without a functioning government.
