washington president joe biden will travel to the united kingdom and ireland this month marking the 25th anniversary of the good friday accord the white house said on wednesday the usbrokered good friday agreement helped end sectarian violence in ireland biden will first travel to belfast northern ireland which is part of the uk from april 1112 to mark the tremendous progress since the signing of the belfastgood friday agreement 25 years ago and to underscore us readiness to support northern irelands economic potential the white house said biden then will travel to the republic of ireland from april 12 to april 14 signed in 1998 the good friday agreement helped end sectarian violence that had raged for three decades over the issue of northern ireland unifying with ireland or remaining part of the uk but it has come under increasing stress following the uks exit from the european union the recent accord known as the windsor framework between the uk and the eu addresses some of the issues that arose around commerce and goods that cross the irish sea from great britain to northern ireland biden who is of irish descent and often makes reference to his roots there and often quotes irish poets recently praised the windsor framework as an important step in maintaining the peace accord though northern irelands political leaders have called for changes its a vital vital step and thats going to help ensure all the people in northern ireland have an opportunity to realize their full potential biden said of the framework during remarks at a capitol hill luncheon to mark st patricks day biden hosted irish prime minister leo varadkar a tradition scuttled by the coronavirus pandemic over the past few years last year the prime minister at the time micheal martin made it to washington but came down with covid19 and had to isolate inside the blair house across the street from the white house but the presentation of an engraved bowl of shamrocks was sent ahead to washington ensuring that a tradition that began in 1952 continued uninterrupted this year varadkar went to a breakfast at the vice presidents home met with biden in the oval office went to the capitol for a lunch with lawmakers and attended a reception hosted by biden the last us president to visit belfast was barack obama in 2013