Rishi Sunak will welcome President Joe Biden when he arrives in Belfast this week, pledging to fulfil the promise of the Good Friday Agreement as they mark its twenty fifth anniversary and speaking of a “better future” for Northern Ireland.
The US president’s go to comes amid a heightened terror risk in Northern Ireland, and with power-sharing in Stormont nonetheless on maintain due to post-Brexit tensions.
In an announcement launched by Downing Street, Mr Sunak mentioned the signing of the Good Friday Agreement was an “incredible moment” within the UK’s historical past.
The settlement ended the 30-year battle in Northern Ireland which claimed greater than 3,500 lives.
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“It was a powerfully rare example of people doing the previously unthinkable to create a better future for Northern Ireland,” the prime minister mentioned.
“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 duty because the prime minister of the United Kingdom to make sure we’re making good on that promise.”
Mr Sunak was “relentlessly centered” on delivering financial development in Northern Ireland, which he mentioned is essential to enhancing dwelling requirements, the assertion added.
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Mr Biden, who will arrive in Air Force One on Tuesday night, is extremely happy with his Irish heritage and the US’s position within the peace accord.
He will give a key handle at Ulster University’s newly opened campus on Wednesday and can have a proper assembly with the prime minister.
Mr Sunak is predicted to make use of the go to to drum up long-term funding for the nation.
A serious policing operation costing round £7m and backed up by round 300 officers might be beneath method across the anniversary, after the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) warned of the potential of dissident republicans launching assaults.
MI5 just lately raised the terrorism risk degree in Northern Ireland to extreme, that means an assault is very doubtless.
Mr Biden will go away Northern Ireland on Wednesday for the Republic, the place he’ll go to Dublin, Co Louth and Co Mayo.
Source: information.sky.com”