Biden welcomes ‘my friend’ Albanese to Delaware home, talks Aukus and Indo-Pacific security ahead of Quad

Anthony Albanese has found something of a mentor in Joe Biden over the more than two years both have led their countries, with the Prime Minister reflecting after a deeply personal set of talks that he always learned from the President.

Mr Biden welcomed Mr Albanese to his personal residence in Wilmongton, Delaware on Friday — the first foreign leader to be afforded the honour.

The pair toured the house and exchanged gifts before speaking for 90 minutes in formal talks that included their foreign affairs advisers.

It was their 11th meeting since Mr Albanese became Prime Minister in May 2022, and likely their final bilateral catch-up before Mr Biden retires from politics in January.

“He is someone who it is a great privilege to spend time with,” Mr Albanese told reporters in nearby Philadelphia afterwards.

He reflected on the advice from his political mentor Tom Uren that he should seek to learn something new and to grow as a person every day.

“I regard (Mr Biden) as a friend and, importantly, someone who I can learn from. We can all learn off each other,” he said.

“His knowledge of the US system and the globe and the way that the world has changed... The other thing about President Biden as well, is he someone who is optimistic and someone who speaks about hope.

“Hope’s always better than fear as an emotion, and I’d rather be hopeful and optimistic than fearful and negative.”

Mr Albanese said he also took the opportunity to hear from Mr Biden about his extensive discussions directly with China’s President Xi Jinping, saying the American leader was “very thoughtful about the rise of China and what that means for the world”.

The White House said the discussion about China covered the pair’s shared concerns about the Asian giant’s coercive and destabilising activities, including in the South China Sea.

The Prime Minister revealed First Lady Jill Biden had given him a note for his fiancee Jodie Haydon, with whom she developed a relationship during last year’s state visit to Washington – but he stopped short of promising to invite the Bidens to their wedding.

Once they got down to business, the leaders spoke about AUKUS and Mr Albanese’s recent tour of the US submarine that was docked at HMAS Stirling for maintenance recently.

They reaffirming their commitment to AUKUS and noted the ongoing, bipartisan support for the alliance and Australia’s progress towards being ready to have its own nuclear-powered submarines.

They also spoke about Defence and security ties, the economic relationship between Australia and the US, climate change, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and other regional strategic challenges.

Mr Albanese said there had be “extensive discussion” about the critical minerals compact the two leaders agreed to in-principle on the sidelines of last year’s Quad meeting, which he hoped would be finalised before the end of the year.

The length of time taken to land the deal reflected the complex nature of the relationship that was being put in place, Mr Albanese said.

The US and other like-minded countries are looking to Australia for supplies of critical minerals to break the near-monopoly China has on global supply chains.

Mr Albanese wants to use the opportunity to realise his ambition for Australian workers to do more value-adding or processing of minerals – much of which could happen in WA – and break a long “dig and ship” habit.

“As we move forward and we look at the drivers of global growth in this century, Australia has the entire periodic table, basically, of what will be needed,” he said.

“That presents an opportunity not just to get access to those resources, but how value is added to it and the supply chain issues that are related to that.”

Afterwards, Mr Biden posted on social media that “my friend, Prime Minister Albanese” and he had also discussed how to strengthen the “innovation alliance” so Australia and the US can tackle shared challenges together.

“When America and Australia stand as one, we forge a future of greater opportunity and security for our countries and the Indo-Pacific,” the President said.

Mr Albanese gave the US Commander in Chief a Royal Australian Air Force bomber jacket with the insignia of the squadron that assists with the PM’s travel.

In return, Mr Biden gave him two artworks showing Delaware landmarks.

The President will host the other Quad partners, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian leader Narendra Modi, on Saturday morning before all four leaders join for the broader dialogue.