Biden to visit Central European countries

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Central Europe Tuesday on a three-country visit that focuses on the past and the future, the White House said.

Biden will visit leaders in Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic before returning to the United States, the White House said.

"First, and most obviously, the trip comes at a historic marker, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. So the vice president is going to mark the moment," Biden's national security adviser Tony Blinken said in a release. "But his focus is going to be much more on the future than on the past. In his view, the real validation of 1989 is less in what we took down and more in what we built, and continue to build together -- strong democracies, strong partnerships that deliver for people in all of our countries and beyond."

Blinken noted the United States has a very strong security partnership with Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic, noting that all are NATO members. In addition, the United States has partnerships for energy security, trade and investments with the countries.

The third objective of the trip is to mark the shift that the United States and the Central European countries made from a local agenda to a global one, Blinken said.

On Monday, Biden joined Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Gov. Ed Rendell for a fundraising reception in Pittsburgh for the embattled Senate incumbent. The Specter campaign said about 175 people attended and that the campaign expected to raise roughly $250,000.