Picture : Twitter/ ANI
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that the Quad leaders meeting in Sydney next week will not go ahead after US President Joe Biden cancelled his visit to Australia while adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sydney next week.
Albanese said the leaders of Australia, the US, India and Japan -the Quad grouping- would now likely meet on the sidelines of the G7 in Japan this weekend Australian media network ABC News reported.
Albanese said Biden had told him that he was “disappointed” as he was unable to visit Australia and that the Quad leaders would instead try to gather on the sidelines of the G7 leaders meeting in Hiroshima.
“All four leaders President Biden, Prime Minister Kishida, Prime Minister Modi and myself will be at the G7, held in Hiroshima on Saturday and Sunday. We are attempting to get together over that period of time [and] I’ll have a bilateral discussion with President Biden,” he said in a press conference.
“At this stage, we haven’t got a time locked in for that arrangement,” he added.
Albanese said that it was still possible that PM Modi and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida will visit Australia next week.
“We are in discussions with the Quad leaders over today. We’ll make further announcements about that, but Prime Minister Modi would certainly be a very welcome guest here next week,” he said.
“Prime Minister Kishida, of course, we had bilateral meetings at the end of last year, just a few months ago, in Perth that was very successful,” he added.
Albanese termed the relationship with Japan “very important”. He also recalled receiving the “warmest of welcomes by Prime Minister Modi in India in March.”
