PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's good to be in Thailand for the APEC Summit. This is about the economic integration with the fastest growing economies in the world in human history. So, over the coming two days, I'll be participating at the APEC Summit, as well as having a range of bilateral meetings.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It was good last night to have a brief discussion about APEC and the important role that it plays and that comes at a time of economic uncertainty throughout the globe: rising inflation, rising interest rates, pressure on energy prices throughout the world, in part due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the consequences that have occurred. APEC is important. It is a region of the world with the fastest growing economies in history.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Vice President. These unprecedented multiple ballistic missile launches undermine our security. They are reckless actions. And I particularly feel for the people of the Republic of Korea and Japan, who will be deeply concerned by these actions. I spoke about this at the East Asia Summit just days ago. And now, again, we have a further provocation by North Korea, one that is in violation, clearly, of United Nations resolutions.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I'll be brief, but I think this is important. The Vice-President of the United States just convened a meeting that was attended by myself as the Prime Minister of Australia, the Prime Minister of Japan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, the Prime Minister of Canada, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand. We met due to the actions of North Korea that have occurred over the last 24 hours. North Korea has launched an unprecedented launch of multiple ballistic missiles.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well thanks very much for joining us, and can I thank the Australian media for their attendance over the last eight days. It's been a very busy period, and I'm sure that you're feeling it a bit too, but we're on the homestretch now. And this morning, I had a very successful bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Thailand, that was so important. These three meetings, the ASEAN East Asia Summit, the G20, and APEC are all important forums to advance Australia's national interest. We live in an increasingly globalised world.
We, Prime Minister Albanese, President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida, today reaffirmed our commitment to work together with Indo-Pacific partners to meet their needs for high-quality, sustainable infrastructure.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It was a great honour this morning to address the G20 meeting. And during the day, I had bilateral, formal and informal meetings with a range of world leaders - advancing Australia's national interest, building relationships, which is so important to Australia as a middle-sized power at G20. This afternoon, I've just concluded a successful bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was a very positive and constructive discussion. And I was pleased that it was held.
XI JINPING, PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA: It gives me great pleasure to meet with Prime Minister Albanese. This is the first meeting, so I would like to congratulate you once again on your appointment as Prime Minister of Australia.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much. It's very good to meet both of you again. And it's been a very constructive discussion that we've been having at the G20 informally and it's good to now have a formal bilateral meeting between us. Australia has such strong ties with Europe. Indeed, we have a Prime Minister with a name like Albanese, and we have a large diaspora in Australia from throughout Europe. So we remain very strong friends. I hope that today we're able to progress the discussion that we've been having about an Australian-EU Free Trade Agreement.