Hopeful of QUAD meeting early next year: Aus PM Albanese

Kuala Lumpur | Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hoped that the QUAD alliance will meet in the first quarter of next year, describing the four-nation bloc as an "important forum".

India was set to host the leaders of Australia, the US and Japan for a summit this year, but that now appears unlikely amid political upheavals in Japan and some strain in India-US ties.

Speaking during a press conference on Sunday on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit here, Albanese said, "The Quad is an important forum and an important vehicle for us to engage Australia, the United States, Japan and India."

"I'm hopeful that there will be a meeting in the first quarter, I would hope, of next year," he said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to host the Quad meeting.

Responding to a question about the QUAD's future and its meeting this year, the Australian prime minister said it was a "busy summit season", with US President Donald Trump having a "busy period".

Trump is on a three-nation Asia visit. He was in Malaysia for the ASEAN summit, from where he left for Japan. From there, he will travel to South Korea, where he is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Earlier in August, media reports claimed that Trump “no longer has plans” to visit India this year for the Quad summit, detailing how relations between the American leader and Prime Minister Modi “unravelled”.

The relations between New Delhi and Washington have been reeling under severe strain after Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, including a 25 per cent levy for New Delhi's procurement of Russian oil.

India described the US action as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable".