WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2021) President Joe Biden and visiting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison renewed their shared commitment to maintaining a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region and to working with NATO and the other Quad nations of Japan and India, the White House said on Tuesday.
"President Biden met today with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and celebrated the 70th anniversary of the US-Australia Alliance," the White House said in a readout. "The leaders affirmed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region, based on shared values and mutual interests."
Biden and Morrison also agreed to seek to involve European allied nations and NATO more deeply in Indo-Pacific security arrangements, the White House added.
The two leaders "discussed the critical role European allies and partners, including NATO and the EU, play in the Indo-Pacific and ways to deepen that cooperation and joint work ...(and) agreed on the importance of working with allies and partners around the world," the readout added.
They also discussed the upcoming Quad Leaders' Summit, including efforts to expand access to vaccines in the Indo-Pacific and to cooperate to address the climate crisis, the White House said.
