Diplomacy briefly took a again seat, as Anthony Albanese and his UK counterpart Rishi Sunak traded barbs in a lighthearted assembly on the NATO sidelines.
With England at the moment trailing behind Australia within the Ashes, cricket was the flavour of sledging as Mr Albanese offered Mr Sunak with a chunk of paper with “2 -1 (Aus – England)” – the standing of the Ashes sequence – as they posed for photographs.
In response, Mr Sunak introduced out a photograph of English batsmen Mark Woods and Chris Woakes celebrating, after England received the third Test on Sunday, holding the crew’s hopes of a sequence win alive.
Pulling one final trick out of his sleeve, Mr Albanese held up a photograph of England wicket keeper Jonny Bairstow – who was controversially stumped in the course of the second Test at Lords – telling Mr Sunak: “I was going to be really provocative”.
Mr Albanese took the dig one step additional, pretending to mark out a crease together with his foot on the ground.
Mr Sunak shot again: “I’m sorry I didn’t bring my sandpaper with me”, in a reference to the ball tampering scandal of 2018.
The pair laughed as they shook fingers whereas posing for photographs.
Just final week, each world leaders intervened over Australia’s contested win at Lords.
Mr Sunak had earlier prompt the stumping of Bairstow by Australia’s wicketkeeper Alex Carey was not inside the “spirit of the game”, as a result of it occurred whereas Bairstow believed there to be a break between overs.
Mr Sunak’s official spokesman mentioned on the time: “The PM agrees with (captain) Ben Stokes who said he simply wouldn’t want to win a game in the manner Australia did”.
In response, Mr Albanese warned Mr Sunak to “stay in your crease”
Cricket apart, Mr Albanese and Mr Sunak used the assembly on the NATO sidelines in Lithuania to debate progress with AUKUS, know-how switch and financial challenges, in addition to the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement now in place.
Overnight, Mr Albanese additionally met the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, a delegation of US senators and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stolenberg.
In his assembly with Mr Costa, the 2 leaders talked about what was wanted to wrap up negotiations on the Australia- EU FTA, which is at the moment being stalled due to a battle over naming rights.
With Mr Stolenberg, Mr Albanese used his face-to-face time to commend NATO’s efforts to strengthen connections with the Indo-Pacific.
NATO’s intention to open an outpost in japan has been met with backlash by French President Emmanuel Macron and former Australian prime minister Paul Keating.
Source: www.news.com.au
