Anthony Albanese will host the other leaders of the Quad security dialogue at the Sydney Opera House next month.
US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will travel to the NSW capital for the meeting on May 24.
The Prime Minister announced the details on Wednesday at a press conference in Sydney where he said the meeting would be held in “Australia’s most recognisable building”.
It will be the first time Australia has hosted the Quad and comes after Mr Albanese attended an earlier summit in Tokyo in May last year shortly after winning office.
Inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, energy policy and strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region are among the items on the agenda for the leaders’ discussion.
Mr Albanese said the meeting presented not only the opportunity to work with Australia’s security partners but the chance to present “this beautiful city in this wonderful country” to the world.
Events would be organised to showcase Sydney and Australia more broadly during the week of the leaders’ meeting, he said.
Mr Albanese thanked former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet for the work his government did to arrange to have the Quad summit held in Sydney before the state election a month ago.
He said he had continued those discussions with his successor, Labor leader Chris Minns.
Mr Albanese also told reporters he had been invited to the US for a bilateral meeting to take place sometime this year, with the details of that trip still being finalised.
But he refused to weigh in on Mr Biden’s recent announcement he would seek re-election later this year, saying only that he would be a “very welcome visitor” in Sydney.
“President Biden, I regard as a friend and he’s certainly a friend of Australia,” he said.
“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 statement shortly after Mr Albanese’s press conference confirming the US President’s travel plans.
The Quad leaders would discuss how they can deepen their co-operation on technology, infrastructure, maritime domain awareness and “other issues that matter to the people of the Indo-Pacific”, she said.
Mr Biden will fly to Sydney for the Quad meeting after he attends the G7 summit in Japan from May 19-May 21.
Originally published as Anthony Albanese to host Quad security dialogue leaders in Sydney
Source: News