Sydney, Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, will meet China’s Premier, Li Qiang on Monday during the first visit by a Chinese premier to Australia in seven years.
The meeting will focus on key issues including trade relations and regional security.
Premier Li’s visit, the highest-level Chinese official visit since President Xi Jinping, signifies a stabilisation in relations between the US ally and the world’s second largest economy. This comes after a period of strained relations, during which Beijing imposed bans on $20 billion worth of Australian exports and disputes over defence matters arose.
Premier Li began his four-day visit on Sunday, which Australian Foreign Minister described as “significant.” Li stated that the visit indicates that bilateral relations have “returned to the right track.”
An Australian business group noted that consumers would face a 4.2% increase in prices without strong ties with China, which receives a third of Australia’s exports and supplies a quarter of its import
s.
Additionally, Australia is China’s largest supplier of iron ore, and China has investments in Australian mining projects.
Source: Bahrain News Agency