Quad summit: PM Modi, Australian PM Albanese hold bilateral talks

Tokyo, May 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met Australia's newly-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the Quad Summit here and discussed issues of mutual interests.

The two leaders are in Japan for the second in-person Quad leaders' summit.

""Our relationship with India is a very important one and it was a great honour to meet with Prime Minister Modi," said Australian PM Anthony Albanese in Tokyo, Japan.

Earlier, the two leaders attended the Quad summit along with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

At the Quad summit, Modi complimented Albanese saying his presence at the summit after 24 hours of taking the oath showed his commitment to Quad.

Albanese was sworn in as Australia's 31st Prime Minister on Monday. His center-left Labor Party ousted predecessor Scott Morrison's conservative coalition at Saturday's election. The coalition had been in power under three prime ministers for nine years.

"Today I had the pleasure of meeting with PM Kishida @JPN_PMO, @POTUS and @narendramodi at the Quad Summit in Tokyo. We affirmed our shared commitment to the Quad, and to a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific. I look forward to hosting Quad Leaders in Australia in 2023,'' Albanese tweeted.

He said that Australia will host the next Quad summit in 2023.