Thursday 19 May 2022 06:34 PM Ecuador rolls out red carpet for Jill Biden trends now

Ecuador rolled out the red carpet for Jill Biden on Thursday as she met with the country's president and first lady at the Carondelet Palace.

President Guillermo Lasso and First Lady María de Lourdes Alcívar de Lasso put out the bells and whistles - a military band played, soldiers in ceremonial blue and white uniforms guarded the doors, and roses - which are a major export of Ecuador - decorated the courtyard.

Jill Biden wore a white dress with blue butterflies. 

She was greeted on a stage in the middle of the courtyard, where Ecuadorian and American flags made up the backdrop along with a row of ferns. On each side of the stage was a trellis filled with red, white, pink and yellow roses. 

Mrs. Alcívar de Lasso waited for her, giving her a hug. 

Photographers called for shots as the two women posed on a stage in the inner courtyard of the palace.

'Can we go?' Biden joked after a minute of camera shots.

With that, they walked upstairs to the residence, where Biden had coffee with the president and first lady.

At the meeting, Biden said they 'talked about everything' and 'we are friends already.'

'We talked about everything. We talked about education, the pandemic, people, families, how important it is to support the families of our country. And so we're friends already,' she told reporters afterward.

Later she and her Ecuadorian counterpart headed to the Centro De Desarrollo Infantil San Francisco de Quito, a child development center. There the two first ladies will talk childhood nutrition, a priority of the First Lady of Ecuador.

At the center, the two women joined the children in playing with a large circular cloth. They waved it in the air as a Spanish song played and then all ducked their heads under it when the song ended. 

They also joined the kids around a children's table where they watched them enjoy a healthy fruit snack.  

Biden will later make a speech where she's expected to touch on migration, a major issue for her husband's administration.

Her speech will 'demonstrate the growing strength of our bilateral relationship with Ecuador; present U.S. regional goals for the hemisphere in advance of the Summit of the Americas to be held in Los Angeles in June; and recognize the importance of the region,' the East Wing said. 'Interconnectedness is a key theme of the speech.'

Biden arrived in the capitol of Quito on Wednesday night.