PM to host Quad leaders in Sydney

Anthony Albanese will host the opposite leaders of the Quad safety dialogue on the Sydney Opera House subsequent month.

US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will journey to the NSW capital for the assembly on May 24.

The Prime Minister introduced the main points on Wednesday at a press convention in Sydney the place he stated the assembly can be held in “Australia’s most recognisable building”.

It would be the first time Australia has hosted the Quad and comes after Mr Albanese attended an earlier summit in Tokyo in May final yr shortly after profitable workplace.

Inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, power coverage and strategic competitors within the Indo-Pacific area are among the many gadgets on the agenda for the leaders’ dialogue.

Mr Albanese stated the assembly offered not solely the chance to work with Australia’s safety companions however the likelihood to current “this beautiful city in this wonderful country” to the world.

Events can be organised to showcase Sydney and Australia extra broadly through the week of the leaders’ assembly, he stated.

Mr Albanese thanked former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet for the work his authorities did to rearrange to have the Quad summit held in Sydney earlier than the state election a month in the past.

He stated he had continued these discussions together with his successor, Labor chief Chris Minns.

Mr Albanese additionally advised reporters he had been invited to the US for a bilateral assembly to happen someday this yr, with the main points of that journey nonetheless being finalised.

But he refused to weigh in on Mr Biden’s current announcement he would search re-election later this yr, saying solely that he can be a “very welcome visitor” in Sydney.

“President Biden, I regard as a friend and he’s certainly a friend of Australia,” he stated.

“I don’t comment on the internal politics of the United States. That is a matter for the people of the United States.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a press release shortly after Mr Albanese’s press convention confirming the US President’s journey plans.

The Quad leaders would focus on how they’ll deepen their co-operation on know-how, infrastructure, maritime area consciousness and “other issues that matter to the people of the Indo-Pacific”, she stated.

Mr Biden will fly to Sydney for the Quad assembly after he attends the G7 summit in Japan from May 19-May 21.