Sydney, Australia, Jul 9 (EFE).- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese left for a tour of Europe on Sunday, during which he will meet his German counterpart, Olaf Scholz, and also attend the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital between July 11-12.
Albanese, who will arrive in Germany on Sunday night, is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Scholz to deepen cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, the clean energy transition, and defence,” according to a statement by the government published overnight.
The Australian leader will then attend the summit of leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at Vilnius on Tuesday and Wednesday as a guest country, along with New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.
“Australia’s presence at this forum is firmly in our national interest as we work together towards a peaceful and stable world. Alongside our NATO allies, Australia continues to demonstrate our unwavering support for Ukraine, and our condemnation of Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion,” said Albanese in the statement before leaving.
Australia is among the non-NATO countries that has sent significant humanitarian and military aid packages to Ukraine, and also sanctioned more than a thousand Russian politicians, companies and institutions over the conflict.
During the summit, the second one attended by the Australian leader – the previous one in Madrid last year -, Albanese is likely to hold bilateral meetings with other leaders. EFE
aus-nc/sc
