The four leaders will speak at the Group of Seven summit taking place this weekend in Japan, according to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who also ruled out the possibility of a so-called Quad summit taking place in Sydney without President Joe Biden.
Albanese stated on Wednesday that he comprehends Biden’s decision to skip the summit in favor of concentrating on the vital debt limit negotiations in Washington. The May 24 summit between Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was originally planned.
“The blocking and the disruption that’s occurring in domestic politics in the United States, with the debt ceiling issue, means that, because that has to be solved prior to 1st June — otherwise there are quite drastic consequences for the U.S. economy, which will flow on to the global economy — he understandably has had to make that decision,” Albanese told reporters.
According to Albanese, Biden “expressed very much his disappointment” at not being able to attend the summit in Sydney and the national capital Canberra the day before to address Parliament.
The G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, will bring the four presidents together soon, and they intend to meet there, he said.
“The Quad is an important body and we want to make sure that it occurs at leadership level and we’ll be having that discussion over the weekend,” Albanese said.
He suggested Modi still might visit Sydney next week, noting the Indian leader was scheduled to give an address to the Indian diaspora at a sold-out 20,000-seat stadium on Tuesday.
“We’ll make further announcements about that, but Prime Minister Modi would certainly be a very welcome guest here next week,” Albanese said.
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