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Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong touched down in Tokyo on Monday night, less than 24 hours after being sworn in to their new roles, for the Quad meeting with the United States, Japan and India.
Before that, Albanese picked up the phone to his United Kingdom counterpart, Boris Johnson, to discuss climate change and the AUKUS security pact.
According to Downing Street, Johnson suggested broadening the agreement into other areas.
“Discussing AUKUS, the leaders strongly agreed on its vital importance and the exciting opportunities it provided,” the UK Prime Minister’s office said, in a readout of the call.
“The (UK) Prime Minister said he thought the trilateral grouping could go further together in other domains, where both countries could collaborate for the global good.”
Both leaders agreed there was “strong alignment” on global security, climate change and trade and highlighted the importance of the recently signed free trade agreement, Downing Street said.
Albanese and Wong will meet with US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Tuesday for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
“The relationship with the United States is our most important, along with our relationships in the region and our multilateral commitments as well,” Albanese said on Monday.
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“The (Quad) meetings that we will have, not just with the United States, but importantly with our hosts in Japan and India are going to be very important, in a good way, to send a message to the world that there’s a new government in Australia and it’s a government that represents a change, in terms of the way that we deal with the world on issues like climate change but also a continuity in the way that we have respect for democracy and the way that we value our friendships and long time alliances.”
