Sydney - Brussels: Europe and the Arabs - Agencies
A few days before the G7 summit in Japan, the Australian Prime Minister announced the cancellation of a summit that was scheduled to bring together the leaders of four countries, namely the United States, India, Japan and the host country, Australia. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced today, Wednesday, the cancellation The summit meeting of the Quartet leaders, which was scheduled for next week in Sydney, after US President Joe Biden canceled his visit to Australia.
"President Biden has had to turn his attention to domestic politics, as he works to strike a deal with Republicans to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt at the end of this month," Albanese was quoted as saying by the Australian "ABC" network on its website.
Albanese added: "Because this must be resolved before June 1 - otherwise there will be very serious consequences for the US economy, which will flow into the global economy - he understandably had to make this decision." According to the Middle East News Agency
The prime minister also went on to say that Biden was "disappointed" that he was unable to come to Australia and that the Quartet leaders would instead try to meet on the sidelines of the G7 leaders' meeting in Hiroshima.
He noted that all the Quartet leaders - President Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi - will be present at the G7, which will be held in Hiroshima on Saturday and Sunday, so we are trying to get together during that time period and I will have a bilateral meeting with President Biden.
Albanese said it was still possible that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida could visit Sydney next week, but officials in the three countries were still trying to confirm their plans.