“We are going to establish climate and energy as the third pillar of the Australian-US alliance. This will enable the expansion and diversification of clean energy supply chains, especially as it relates to critical materials,” he said.
The leaders also said in a joint statement that Mr Biden planned to ask US Congress to add Australia as a “domestic source” under the Defence Production Act, which would create new opportunities for US investment in Australian critical minerals.
The White House earlier confirmed the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Mr Albanese, Mr Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be held on the sidelines of the G7 summit on Saturday night.
On Wednesday, Mr Biden cancelled his trip to Sydney, scheduled for next week, saying he needed to be in Washington DC to break the impasse in Congress over the US debt ceiling, forcing the meeting to be shifted to Hiroshima where all four world leaders would be in attendance at the G7 summit anyway.
“I still believe we will be able to avoid a default,” Mr Biden said.
Following the cancellation of his trip to Australia, Mr Biden said he was looking forward to hosting Mr Albanese in Washington for a state visit later this year.
It is the sixth time the two have met since Mr Albanese was sworn in as prime minister a year ago.
Their three previous formal meetings were at the Quad leaders summit in Tokyo in May last year, the East Asia summit in Cambodia and the AUKUS meeting in San Diego. They also met on the sidelines of the NATO summit Madrid and the G20 summit in Bali.
From left, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are greeted by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, during their arrival to the Quad leaders summit at Kantei Palace in Tokyo, Japan. AP
The prime minister also met with UN Secretary General Antonia Guterres on Saturday where Mr Albanese reiterated Australia’s commitment to the multilateral system and discussed support for small island nations.
Mr Albanese was also scheduled to meet European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday.
The Quad meeting is scheduled 9pm (AEST) Saturday night.
Australia faces growing competition in the surge in demand for critical minerals needed for a low-emissions environment, citing the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and similar measures in Canada.