Biden made a comment at a news conference in Sweden, where he arrived on an official visit on Wednesday.
"That is my hope and expectation," he said of Gitmo to reporters in Stockholm on Thursday.
On Thursday, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said that the current administration is determined to complete the task before the end of Obama’s term.
"We're going to do our best to try to get this closed and it's our expectation that that's what we'll do," he stated at a news briefing, adding that a “lot of diplomatic work needs to be done.”
Currently, some 61 detainees remain in the facility. Of that number, 15 will be transported to the United Arab Emirates, as announced by the Pentagon this month. Another 20 have been approved for transfer, but no country has agreed yet to accept them.
The Cuban island detention center was established in 2002 for the interrogation and prosecution of war criminals, under former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Since that time the prison has become notorious for detaining people without trial and for the use of torture.
