EYE ON ALLIES AND FOES AS BIDEN TOURS EUROPE
Joe Biden has set off on the first foreign trip of his presidency, looking at a series of summits with G7, European Union and NATO partners before a tense face-to-face with Vladimir Putin in Switzerland. Here’s a lowdown of his Europe trip that Russia and China will be closely following
KEY ENGAGEMENTS HELLO, BORIS!
The US president will have a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday in Cornwall, England. It will be a chance to renew the US-British relationship after Britain's Brexit pull-out from the European Union
G7: THE BIG SUMMIT
The US president will make his first stop at the village of St. Ives in Cornwall where he will attend a G7 summit. It is expected to be dominated by Biden’s position on vaccine diplomacy, apart from trade, climate and the drive to counter a rising China
A ROYAL VISIT
After three days of brainstorming at the G7 summit, Biden and his wife Jill will visit Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. The 78-year-old Biden met the queen back in 1982 when he was a US senator from Delaware
DATE WITH ALLIES
Afterwards, Biden travels to Brussels for talks with leaders of NATO and EU. The agenda will be dominated by Russia, China and the perennial issue of getting NATO allies to contribute more to the common defence
FINALLY, FACING PUTIN
Biden closes out the trip in Geneva for what could prove to be the most difficult meeting of the week - a session with Russian President Putin, who had enjoyed friendly relations with Donald Trump. Ukraine, Alexei Navalny, cyberattacks – they will have plenty of flashpoints to talk about