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US President Joe Biden on Friday arrived on a visit to Germany, marking the first official state visit by an American President since the German reunification.
He is expected to hold meetings with the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also join Biden and Scholz later. Expected on the agenda of discussions are conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia according to a Biden administration official who said the two leaders will discuss "increased reports of antisemitic acts in both countries over the last year as war has raged in the Middle East" as per a Voice of America report. "I look forward to his visit and I am grateful for the good cooperation between me and the American president," German Chancellor Scholz said on Wednesday as per the NYT.Biden was initially scheduled to visit Germany and Angola, earlier this month, on October 10-15 but his visit got postponed due to Hurricane Milton. The visit is taking place just three weeks ahead of the scheduled US presidential polls.Addressing a press gaggle US National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan said the visit marks Biden's first visit to Berlin as president, and "he did not want his time in office to go by without going to the capital of one of -- one of our most important partners and allies." "And the president is looking forward to having the opportunity to talk to the chancellor and other German officials about where we go from here in Ukraine; about developments in the Middle East, in Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel; about how we align our respective approaches on China about how we align our industrial and innovation strategies; about artificial intelligence and the clean energy transition," Sullivan said. Meanwhile, upon his arrival at Berlin's Brandenberg International Airport Schonefeld, Biden said "It's a good day for the world" while congratulating the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Sinwar was the architect of the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas last year, which started off the current war in West Asia. According to the Israeli military, he was killed on Thursday amid a military operation by the Israelis in Gaza. "There is now the opportunity for a 'day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike," Biden said in a White House statement. "Yahya Sinwar was an insurmountable obstacle to achieving all of those goals. That obstacle no longer exists. But much work remains before us," he said. "And I told him that we were really pleased with his actions and, further, that now is the time to move on -- move on, move towards a ceasefire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we're going to be in a position to make things better for the whole world," Biden said about his conversation with Netanyahu. "It's time for this war to end and bring these hostages home," Biden said. (ANI)
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