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New York: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been snubbed from Donald Trump’s official schedule of meetings in New York, leaving him to compete for a handshake with the US president at a reception with more than 100 other world leaders.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the president’s schedule at the United Nations would include bilateral meetings with the UN Secretary-General and the presidents of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union.
A meeting with Anthony Albanese is not on Donald Trump’s official schedule in New York.Credit: Getty
Trump will also attend a multilateral meeting with the leaders of an array of Middle Eastern countries, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia.
But Australia and Albanese were omitted from the schedule, despite earlier suggestions from both sides that a bilateral meeting was possible on the sidelines of the summit.
The Australian government had in recent days played down the prospect of a formal one-on-one with Trump.
He will still have the opportunity to meet the president in person at a reception Trump is hosting on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEST) that Leavitt said would be attended by more than 100 world leaders.
After that, Trump will return to Washington, where he is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting and lunch with Turkish President Recep Erdoğan on Thursday.
“We will meet when we meet,” Albanese told the ABC last week. “There’s a range of events occurring … that means people’s arrangements will be finalised when they’re finalised.”
At a briefing, Leavitt also said Trump took a dim view of the move by Australia, Canada, the UK and France to officially recognise a Palestinian state at this week’s UN summit.
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“The president has been very clear: he disagrees with this decision,” she said. “He feels this does not do anything to release the hostages, which is the primary goal right now in Gaza.
“[It] does nothing to end this conflict and bring this war to a close, and frankly, he believes it’s a reward to Hamas. He believes these decisions are just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.”
Leavitt said Trump would have more to say about the matter when he addresses the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
The president will also “articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world”, she said, and touch upon “how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order”.
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