Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to hold another round of key talks at the G7 summit in Japan as the world’s most powerful leaders convene, with a rescheduled Quad meeting also on the agenda.
The three-day summit spans global peace, including tackling Russian and Chinese aggression, as well as the transition to clean energy and developments in artificial intelligence.
Australia announced a slate of new sanctions against Russian entities and a ban on machinery being exported to Kremlin-controlled areas in a co-ordinated effort with G7 nations to stop the invasion of Ukraine.
“The G7 is a critical body of the seven of the world’s largest democracies coming together at a time in which we have global instability,” Albanese said on arrival in Japan on May 19.
“We have global instability in our security issues with the ongoing illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, but we also have tension in our own region.”
The prime minister also cited global inflation and economic uncertainty as major issues that needed tackling.
Albanese met with the local Hiroshima mayor on May 19 before sitting down with his Brazilian and South Korean counterparts.
As Albanese stood in Hiroshima where hundreds of thousands of people died when the first atomic bomb was dropped in warfare, he said the threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin showed why the world needed to remain vigilant.
“We know the consequences because we see them right here,” Albanese said.
“We have to step up the campaign against nuclear weapons.”
The prime minister is also slated to meet with the U.S. president and Indian and Japanese prime ministers who form the Quad after the leaders’ summit scheduled for Sydney next week was cancelled.
The White House said in a statement that the third in-person Quad leaders’ meeting would take place in Japan on May 20.
“After President (Joe) Biden had to postpone his trip to Australia, the Quad leaders agreed that they would hold their summit in Hiroshima to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad’s progress over the past year,” the statement said.
Albanese said while it would be a shortened meeting, a lot of preparation work had already been done.
“We will have, I think, a successful meeting as well as successful bilaterals,” Albanese said.
“I attended virtually the major economies forum, which all of the Quad leaders participated in ... and we were able to talk about some of the things that will lead into the discussions.”
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the meeting with Biden came at a pivotal time during the alliance after Australia announced how it would acquire nuclear-propelled submarines through the AUKUS pact.
Marles, who is also the defence minister, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong will meet their American counterparts in the U.S. in July.
