Advancing Australia’s Interests in Germany and the NATO Leaders’ Summit

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  • International policy and national security
  • International policy
Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister of Australia and Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO at the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese travelled to Europe to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on July 10 before attending the NATO Leaders’ Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania from 11 – 12 July. 

The Prime Minister’s travel helped to advance Australia’s economic, trade, and security agenda and provided an opportunity to advocate for our region’s strategic priorities.

In Berlin, leaders discussed clean energy, trade, defence and security; and announced an in-principle arrangement for Australia to supply armoured vehicles to Germany in a deal worth more than $1 billion dollars to the Australian economy.

The Prime Minister used his attendance at the NATO Leaders’ Summit to highlight the interconnectedness of security challenges in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, and need for coordinated responses. The Prime Minister discussed similar themes at the second meeting of the Indo-Pacific Four with Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand.

The Prime Minister met with a range of international leaders in the margins of the Summit, including NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Prime Minister Albanese also held discussions with senior leaders from the United States Congress about progressing the AUKUS agreement.