US Vice President Joe Biden says he expects the Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba will close before he and President Barack Obama leave office in January.

“That is my hope and expectation,” he told a news conference in Sweden on Thursday.

The White House has been trying to close the prison for terrorism suspects since Obama took office, but has been stymied by opposition in Congress.

“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,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing on Thursday.

The US Department of Defence announced earlier this month it was transferring 15 detainees to the United Arab Emirates, according to The Hill, reducing the prisoner population to 61.

It was the largest ever transfer under the Obama administration.

“The United States is grateful to the government of the United Arab Emirates for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility,” the department said in a statement.