Vance is in Milan for the Winter Olympics, a trip that will later take him to Armenia and Azerbaijan

MILAN (AP) — Vice President JD Vance landed in Milan with his family Thursday, the first stop on a trip combining diplomacy and sports where he is leading President Donald Trump's delegation to the 2026 Winter Olympics and later stopping in Armenia and Azerbaijan in a show of support for a peace agreement brokered by the White House last year.

The weeklong trip may be one of only a few international trips Vance makes this year. Trump and his Cabinet members are taking a tighter focus on domestic issues — and domestic travel — heading into the November midterm elections, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said last month.

On Thursday, Vance plans to meet with U.S. athletes competing in the Milan Cortina Winter Games, and later plans to watch the U.S. women’s hockey team take on Czechia in a preliminary game.

At the opening ceremony for the games on Friday, the vice president will lead a U.S. delegation that includes his wife, second lady Usha Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta. Former Olympic gold medalists will also be in the delegation, including hockey player sisters Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando; speedskater Apolo Ohno and figure skater Evan Lysacek.

Vance is following in the footsteps of former vice presidents Joe Biden who attended the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 and Mike Pence who traveled to Pyeongchang, Korea in 2018. Former Vice President Kamala Harris did not attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing because the Biden administration did not send any diplomatic officials as a boycott over human rights concerns.

After Italy, Vance plans to head to Armenia and Azerbaijan, where Trump has tasked him with building on a deal aimed at ending four decades of conflict between the two countries.

The peace agreement boosts the position of the U.S. in the region at a time when Russia’s influence is declining. The two former Soviet republics, Armenia and Azerbaijan, agreed under the deal to reopen key transportation routes and bolster cooperation with the United States in energy, technology and the economy. The deal also calls for the creation of a major transit corridor dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. It is expected to connect Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, which are separated by a 32-kilometer-wide (20-mile-wide) patch of Armenian territory.

Vance’s mission on the trip to further the peace effort is similar to an assignment he took on in October, when he traveled to Israel weeks after a ceasefire was negotiated in its war with Hamas in Gaza, reiterating the Trump administration’s commitment to the effort.

In addition to the Israel stop last year, Vance made trips to France, Germany, Greenland, India, and the U.K. He twice visited Italy, meeting Pope Francis before his death, and later, his successor Pope Leo XIV.

While presidents focus their foreign travel on meetings with some of the U.S.’s biggest allies, vice presidents often are called on to make trips a little off the beaten path. Biden, for example, went to Mongolia in 2011, where he tried some archery and was gifted a horse. In 2017, Pence visited Estonia, Georgia and Montenegro, where he affirmed support for NATO, along with participating in symbolic diplomacy with the planting of an oak tree.

For vice presidents, foreign trips are partly “a function of what the president likes to do — and not like to do,” said Marc Short, who was chief of staff to Pence during Trump’s first term.

Sometimes, trips can include unexpected elements, such as Pence's 2018 trip to the East Asia Summit in Singapore that included an informal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Short also recalled a 2019 trip to Poland where Pence was called to fill in for the president who stayed home to monitor Hurricane Dorian. That trip involved a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“The reality, obviously, is the president has a lot of other responsibilities,” Short said, “So it’s often important that the United States be represented by the highest official available. In many cases, that’s just the vice president.”

Vice President JD Vance stands by Team USA jackets, at the Team USA Welcome Experience, ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Vice President JD Vance visits a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between United States and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Vice President JD Vance, center, attends a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between United States and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Vice President JD Vance, center, attends a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between United States and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Vice President JD Vance, second lady Usha Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio his wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to Italy and San Marino Tilman Fertitta pose for a photo with Team USA athletes, at the Team USA Welcome Experience, ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Ambassador to Italy and San Marino Tilman Fertitta and his wife Paige Fertitta welcome Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance as they arrive ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Vice President JD Vance holds his son Vivek's credentials, at the Team USA Welcome Experience, ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Ambassador to Italy and San Marino Tilman Fertitta and his wife Paige Fertitta welcome Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance as they arrive ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Vice President JD Vance, second lady Usha Vance and their children Mirabel and Vivek disembark Air Force Two as they arrive ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Vice President JD Vance waves as he and second lady Usha Vance board Air Force Two to travel to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, from Joint Base Andrews, Md., Feb. 4, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Portugal and Austria defeated Germany for seats on the powerful but deeply divided U.N. Security Council on Wednesday in a hotly contested race after intense campaigning.

The 10 rotating seats on the 15-member Security Council are earmarked for different regions of the world. The assembly elects five countries by secret ballot every year to serve two-year terms alongside the council’s five permanent veto-wielding members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

In the other contested race, after four rounds of voting in the 193-member General Assembly, Kyrgyzstan defeated the Philippines by a vote of 143-49 and will join the council for the first time.

Zimbabwe, the African candidate, and Caribbean candidate Trinidad and Tobago had no opponents and both were elected with more than 180 votes.

In the race for the two seats for the group of mainly Western nations, Portugal received 134 votes and Austria 131 votes, while Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse which had served six previous terms on the council, received 104 votes.

Austria’s foreign ministry said its election capped a 15-year campaign and is a “strong international sign of confidence” in the country.

The five new members will take up their seats on Jan. 1. They will replace Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia.

The Security Council is mandated under the U.N. Charter with ensuring international peace and security, but it has failed in the three major current conflicts because of the veto power of Russia on Ukraine and of the United States, Israel’s closest ally, often on Gaza and on Iran.

There have been decades of efforts to reform the Security Council to reflect the geopolitical realities of the current world, not of the post-World War II era 80 years ago, when the United Nations was established. But they have all failed, though a new attempt is underway.

Associated Press writer Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna, Austria contributed to this report.

FILE - The symbol of the United Nations is displayed outside the Secretariat Building, Feb. 28, 2022, at United Nations Headquarters. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)