US President Joe Biden will address the Australian Parliament next week for Quad in Sydney
US President Joe Biden has accepted Anthony Albanese’s offer to address the Federal Parliament ahead of the Quad leader summit at the Sydney Opera House.
Biden will be in Australia next Wednesday for the next meeting of the quadrilateral security dialogue, along with Mr Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.
Mr Albanese confirmed details of their visit on Tuesday evening and said he was pleased Mr Biden had accepted his invitation to speak to federal MPs the day before as a demonstration of the “warmth, depth and strength of the Australia-US Alliance”.
Mr Biden becomes the first US president to visit Australia since 2014 and the fifth US president ever to deliver a joint speech to the Australian Parliament.
As part of his official program in Sydney and Canberra, Biden is scheduled for bilateral talks with Albanian.
The two leaders will discuss “broad friendship” between their two countries, as well as “raising global climate ambition,” Mr Albanese’s office said.
They are also expected to discuss ways to support global economic growth and job creation and provide affordable, safe and reliable clean energy during the clean energy transition.
Mr Biden’s visit follows Mr Albanese’s trip to the US in March, which revealed details of Australia’s plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement with the US and the United Kingdom.
Mr. Albanese is expected to return to the US sometime this year for another bilateral meeting with Mr. Biden, and details of that trip have yet to be announced.
He said he was honored to host Mr Biden, Mr Modi and Mr Kishida in Australia next week.
“I also look forward to hosting the Quad Leaders’ Summit, the largest and most important gathering in Australia since we hosted the G20 a decade ago,” he said.
Mr. Albanese will also hold bilateral meetings with Mr. Modi and Mr. Kishida before the Quad Summit.
Mr Albanese and Mr Modi are expected to discuss strengthening Australia’s relationship with India, including through trade and investment, defense and security and people-to-people ties; and their shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
The two prime ministers will also speak at a community event in Sydney while Modi is here. Mr Albanese will visit India for the second time this year in September when he is on his way to the G20 summit in New Delhi.
Mr Albanese’s meeting with Mr Kishida will be the pair’s seventh bilateral meeting, with the two leaders expected to reaffirm their commitment to free trade, democracy, human rights and the “rules-based order”.
The Quad Security Dialogue is widely seen as a way for the four democratic member states to jointly push back against China’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
The meeting on May 24 marks Australia’s first time hosting the Quad and comes after Mr Albanese attended an earlier summit in Tokyo in May last year, shortly after winning office.
Inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, energy policy and strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region are among the agenda items for leaders’ discussion.
Prior to the Sydney Quad Summit, Mr Albanese will visit Japan from 19 to 21 May at the invitation of Mr Kishida to attend the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima.