Jill Biden on Tuesday left for her final solo foreign trip as first lady, a six-day jaunt that will include Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar before concluding by joining President-elect Donald Trump and other leaders in Paris to mark the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral.
The first stop on Wednesday is Italy, where Mrs. Biden will visit the Sicilian village of Gesso, her ancestral hometown. She is the first Italian American to become first lady.
Mrs. Biden will conclude her trip in Paris to celebrate the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was nearly destroyed by fire five years ago. Mr. Trump, who was president at the time of the fire, will also attend the event along with other foreign dignitaries.
In between, Mrs. Biden will spend her time in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
On Thursday, Mrs. Biden will meet with Sheikha Fatima bit Mubarak, the chairwoman of the General Women’s Union and the Family Development Foundation in Abu Dhabi. Mrs. Biden will also tour the Cleveland Clinic’s facility in Abu Dhabi to promote the Biden Cancer Moonshot, an initiative President Biden launched to tackle cancer rates.
Mrs. Biden on Friday will visit Doha, Qatar, to highlight the two countries’ interests in education and health and will make separate visits to the Qatar Foundation and Weill Cornell Medicine — Qatar.
She’ll also be a guest at a dinner banquet hosted by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser to celebrate the royal wedding between Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Sheikha Fatima bint Nasser bint Hassan Al Thani, at the Al-Wajba Palace in Doha.
Mrs. Biden is the keynote speaker at the Doha Forum, where she will address global challenges before she leaves for Paris. She is scheduled to return to Washington on Sunday.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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