Better take some notes: Albo secures one-on-one Quad meeting with Biden
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will hold one-on-one talks with US President Joe Biden ahead of the upcoming Quad leaders meeting.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese take part in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 16, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Mr Albanese landed in the US on Friday morning, Australian time, before he will meet with the leaders of America, India and Japan at the summit in Delaware, Mr Biden’s home state.
The prime minister will have a bilateral meeting with the outgoing US president before the leaders meeting, and said the summit would focus on security and stability.
“Peace and security do not just happen, you have to work on it. You’ve got to work for stability and that is what the Quad focus will be over the next couple of days,” he told reporters in Philadelphia.
“We will be discussing ways in which we can provide further support in the region, to developing nations, including the action that we are taking together on climate change and supporting their energy security.”
It will be the 11th time the prime minister has held a meeting with the US president during his time in office.
The summit will be the final meeting of the Quad leaders before the US presidential election in November.
Mr Albanese said the Quad would remain a strong alliance, regardless of whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the White House.
“What I’m very confident of is that our relations with our friends here in the United States is a relationship between nations based upon our common values that we have and that it is not just a relationship between individuals,” he said.
“President Biden has been a great friend of Australia. He’s been a champion of the Quad, he has been a strong advocate of an increase of US engagement in our region in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The US president had already indicated China and competition within the Indo-Pacific would be high on the agenda during the meeting.
It comes after China released footage of a 2022 incident involving a Chinese fighter jet intercepting an Australian aircraft over the South China Sea.
Mr Albanese said strategic competition was strong within the Pacific.
“Of course that is a factor when we look at the way that our region is operating, the relations between the rise of China with nations in our region,” he said.
“We will engage in our national interest, and that is something that has led to an improvement in the relationships with China.”
