Joe Biden returns to Munich Security Conference in new role
The coronavirus pandemic means the annual Munich Security Conference is reduced to an online forum in 2021. New US President Joe Biden will address world leaders as US Commander-in-Chief — but he has attended before.
2009: The vice president meets the chancellor
Weeks after being sworn in as vice president of the United States, Joe Biden made his first visit to the 45th Munich Security Conference in 2009. There he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who at that time had already led Germany for almost four years. More than 300 representatives from 50 countries attended the event that year, the world's largest international security conference.
2013: Biden addresses the conference
Four years later, Joe Biden returned to address the plenary of the conference at Munich's prestigious Bayerischer Hof. By then he had been elected to a second term as vice president along with President Barack Obama. Biden used his speech to call for closer ties between Europe and the United States, including a transatlantic free trade zone. "Europeans are our oldest friends and allies," he said.
2013: Syrian Civil War defines conference
With the Syrian Civil War raging, Vice President Biden also took the opportunity to call on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down. He met with the Syrian opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib, who also attended the conference. But Biden would not commit to further US military intervention in Syria and al-Khatib resigned a few months after the conference.
2013: Biden and Russia
Biden was also instrumental in encouraging Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to meet with the Syrian opposition leader at the 2013 conference. While the meeting took place, Russia did not withdraw its support for Syrian President Assad. Biden emphasized that Russia-US relations were improving, but also noted differences in human rights laws between the two powers.
2015: Biden embraces EU
When Biden next returned to Munich in 2015, relations with the Kremlin were frostier following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The vice president focused on his country's cooperation with the EU. Biden coupled his trip to Munich with a visit to Brussels, where he met European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini.
2015: Trilateral talks
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had been critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine, was key in securing trilateral talks at the 2015 conference between herself, Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Poroshenko has since been replaced and the conflict in Ukraine is ongoing. Biden and Merkel are both speakers at the 2021 Munich Security Conference.