Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that next week’s QUAD Leaders Summit in Sydney has been cancelled.
This step was taken after US President Joe Biden cancelled his visit to Australia due to a domestic economic crisis.
PM Albanese said in a statement:
“The President apologised that he would now have to postpone this visit.”
PM Albanese is hopeful that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit Sydney next week.
He said that PM Modi “would certainly be a very welcome guest here next week”:
“Prime Minister Modi has a bilateral program that is organised, so I’m certain that he will be here. And, of course, we have a very large growing diaspora here in Australia and there are events including a large event at Qudos Bank Arena to be held next Tuesday night.”
He added:
“The decision by President Biden that he has been forced to make because of the holding-up of those budget issues in the United States means that the rescheduling of other arrangements is being made and those discussions are taking place, respectfully, over the course of today.”
President Biden has been forced to turn his attention to domestic politics to prevent the US from defaulting on its debts at the end of this month.
QUAD promotes an open Indo-Pacific and leaders are likely to instead meet on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Japan this weekend.
