Above: Joe Biden (Photo: OVP)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

United States Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr Jill Biden, will visit Trinidad and Tobago later this month as part of a hemispheric tour that will include trips to Colombia and Brazil.

The tour will begin the week of May 26, the White House announced Wednesday.

In a release, the Office of the Vice President said Bide “looks forward to meeting with Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar as well as leaders of other Caribbean countries, whom Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has graciously offered to invite.”

It’s not yet clear which leaders will be attending from the region.

“This trip will be an important chance to discuss our collective efforts to promote economic growth and development, access to energy and our ongoing collaboration on citizen security,” Biden said.

US President Barack Obama’s lone trip to the Caribbean also came in Trinidad, when he attended the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain in 2009.

In a statement, Persad-Bissessar said she “welcomes” the visit, calling it “the continued strengthening of diplomatic relations between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago.”