Plans afoot for Biden to join virtual Munich Security Conference: source

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden has been invited to address a virtual edition of the annual Munich Security Conference on Feb. 19 and plans are being made for him to do so, a diplomatic source told Reuters on Thursday.

Should Biden’s address go ahead, it would be the first time he has spoken to an audience in Germany since he assumed office last month. “There are plans for the U.S. president to attend,” the diplomatic source said.

Biden attended the Munich Security Conference in 2009 and 2015 as U.S. vice president and met Chancellor Angela Merkel at the annual gathering.

The Munich conference, the so-called ‘Davos for Defence’, is a major venue for transatlantic, foreign and security policy dialogue. Merkel has promised the new U.S. president greater German foreign policy engagement.