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.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined world leaders in Bali this week for the G20 Leaders’ Summit, under the theme “Recover Together, Recover Stronger”.
As the premier forum for international economic cooperation, the G20 plays a critical role in steering the global economy through the significant challenges it faces.
G20 Leaders discussed action to address global food insecurity, the climate crisis, rising energy prices, rising inflation and cost of living pressures.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I do want to begin by congratulating President Widodo on hosting a very successful G20 meeting. Countries, the 20 largest economies in the world, have come together at a difficult time to issue a declaration moving forward to meet the challenges which are before us. This G20 took place post-COVID and with the COVID recovery being a real focus, with the themes of 'Recovering Stronger'. It also took place with inflationary pressure being global, energy security issues, and also food security.
Australia is contributing $50 million to the Pandemic Fund—a new global Financial Intermediary Fund to improve future pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The Pandemic Fund is the culmination of global efforts to ensure the world learns lessons from COVID-19.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. I was delighted to meet with President Biden here at the East Asia Summit today. We had a very constructive bilateral meeting with the President and his key national security and foreign affairs advisors, people I've developed quite a strong relationship with, some of them over a long period of time. Since I've been Prime Minister I've had the opportunity to meet with President Biden in Tokyo, in Madrid, in London and now here in Phnom Penh. We had a very constructive discussion. We discussed AUKUS.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well it's wonderful to be back in Indonesia again for my second visit as Prime Minister. And I had very fruitful discussions with President Widodo in Phnom Penh and I'm looking forward to our bilateral meeting this afternoon. It's such a warm welcome here from our Indonesian friends, and I thank the Tourism Minister and the Governor of Bali for that warm welcome for myself, but really, myself as a representative of Australia.