Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to attend string of high-level summits around the world amid global uncertainty and international conflicts
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is preparing to attend more than half a dozen overseas trips or conferences by the end of 2025, Sky News Australia can reveal.
Mr Albanese will attend the APEC forum in Korea, ASEAN summit in Malaysia, COP climate conference in Brazil, and the G20 summit in South Africa.
He is also expected to visit China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, speak at the UN General Assembly in New York, and attend the Pacific Islands Forum in the Solomon Islands.
Mr Albanese sees the trips as essential at a time when there is so much upheaval in the world, with a war in the Middle East and another in Ukraine.
The busy schedule comes after Mr Albanese earned the moniker 'Airbus Albo' in his first term of government, just as former prime minister Kevin Rudd was branded 'Kevin 747'.
The Australian government originally helped set up APEC, and the G20 is a forum every Australian prime minister always attends.
The COP summit in Brazil is necessary, given Australia bidding to host a future UN climate conference. That trip will likely be paired with the G20.
Mr Albanese is also expected to use the UN General Assembly in New York as the best opportunity to secure a rescheduled face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump.
The two leaders' planned first meeting at the G7 in Kananaskis, Canada was abruptly cancelled last week, prompting criticism of Mr Albanese's lack of engagement with President Trump.
Mr Albanese considered attending the NATO summit in The Hague to revive the meeting, but it has been confirmed that Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles will attend instead.
The Albanese government's view is that President Trump has agreed to a meeting, and it will take place at an appropriate time.
The visit to China is also seen as an important step, given the size of the trading relationship between the two countries.
On his first trip to China in the last term of parliament, the Prime Minister ensured he visited the United States beforehand where he met with then-president Joe Biden.
That was another reason the highly anticipated meeting with President Trump had been so important for the Albanese government.
Since being re-elected in May, Mr Albanese has already travelled to Indonesia to meet President Prabowo Subianto and to Rome for the Mass swearing in the new Pope Leo.
He also visited Nadi, Fiji to meet Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka; Seattle, USA to meet Amazon Web Service CEO Matt Garman; and Kanaskis, Canada for the G7 Summit.
In the absence of Mr Trump, Mr Albanese instead held two short meetings on the sidelines of the G7 with key members of the Trump administration.
He also met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
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