Continuing a tradition form back in the day….
When American President’s have trouble at home?
They gladly travel oversea’s where things tend to be warmer for them….
Biden’s presence will be reminding the leaders that Trump is gone and America IS back in the fold….
Air Force One will be putting in a lot of millage on this….
The first extensive foreign trip for the President after the beginning of the pandemic…..
With his domestic agenda in limbo and tensions with China and Russia smoldering in the backdrop, President Biden kicked off a whirlwind international tour on Friday in Rome, where he met with Pope Francis to discuss global challenges like the pandemic and climate change.
The meeting — the president’s first with Francis since his inauguration — had deep emotional resonance for Mr. Biden, a devout Catholic. The president and the pope share common ground on many issues, and Mr. Biden seemed visibly excited as he headed into a private meeting, which lasted 90 minutes.
During their meeting, Mr. Biden thanked Francis for his advocacy for the world’s poor and people suffering from hunger, conflict and persecution, the White House said, adding that he had also lauded the pope’s leadership in the climate crisis and his advocacy on coronavirus vaccines.
Francis has repeatedly called on pharmaceutical companies to waive intellectual property protections for their coronavirus vaccines on the grounds that doing so would be a “gesture of humanity.” In May, Mr. Biden said he supported the suspension of some of those, but large manufacturers have argued that scaling up production is a more effective way to help end the pandemic.
The Vatican visit was the prelude to a five-day diplomatic marathon that is crucial not just for Mr. Biden, but also for the world. This weekend, at the Group of 20 summit of the world’s largest economies, leaders will gather amid a pandemic in which inequalities are increasingly stark and as supply chain woes and rising energy prices threaten economies worldwide.
After that, he and many of the same leaders will travel to Scotland for COP26, a worldwide summit on climate change that is billed by many as a make-or-break moment to save a warming planet from disaster.
For Mr. Biden, the international events come against the backdrop of high-stakes negotiations over his domestic agenda. But participants to the summits from across the globe are all facing enormous challenges, many linked to the pandemic and the health and economic devastation it has wrought.
The agenda would be daunting even in normal times, but this is first G20 meeting in person since the virus emerged. Many of those who are coming hope to deliver concrete changes on issues like international tax shelters and getting coronavirus vaccines to the developing world, even as they struggle to make progress on existential issues like lowering carbon emissions and addressing energy shortages….
Update...Images from the G-20 Summit in Rome….
image….Erin Schaff/The New York Times