Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will urge U.S. President Joe Biden to remain focused on the Indo-Pacific region as the war between Israel and Hamas intensifies.
The prime minister flew out for Washington on Sunday for a four-day official visit to the U.S.
It will be the ninth meeting between the two leaders since Albanese’s election victory in 2022.
Albanese said he will tell the U.S. leader, providing support to the region was crucial.
“It’s very important that we remain focused on the Indo-Pacific region,” he told reporters ahead of his departure.
“We will certainly be urging the United States to continue what they have done, which is to step up in the region.”
The prime minister pointed to the Pacific Islands Forum, to be held in the Cook Islands next month, which he described as “very important”.
“We certainly support the president’s agenda, which has spoken about the role that the United States plays in the world,” he said.
Biden visited Tel Aviv last week, in a bid to ease mounting tension in the Middle East after Hamas’ attack on Israel on 07 October.
Asked if the U.S could simultaneously manage conflicts in Israel and Ukraine, the president confidently responded his nation could do both.
Albanese said his message will be it remains “critical” to continue supporting Ukraine in the face of a drawn out war with Russia. Security experts are concerned China may seek to take Taiwan by force, leading to a “catastrophic” war in the Indo-Pacific, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
