Indian PM Modi to meet Biden in Japan after Quad summit in Australia cancelled

US President calls off trip to Sydney to deal with domestic issues

From left, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Quad summit in Tokyo in May 2022. AP

The leaders of the US, India, Australia and Japan have cancelled their Quad summit after American President Joe Biden called off his trip to Sydney due to domestic issues.

They are instead expected to meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan in June.

Mr Biden was scheduled to travel to Australia, with a stop in Papua New Guinea, for the May 24 Quad summit.

But Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albenese said on Wednesday that Mr Biden had cancelled the trip.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to the G7 summit, taking place in Hiroshima from June 19 to 21, as a guest by his Japanese counterpart Kishida Fumio.

Mr Albanese has also been invited to attend.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, commonly known as the Quad, is a loose strategic alliance between the US, India, Australia and Japan.

The G7 includes the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK.

Russia was part of the forum until 2014 when it was suspended following its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

The group meets annually to discuss global issues. The summit is under Japan’s presidency this year.

First visit since nuclear tests

Mr Modi will speak on peace, sustainability, food and energy security, gender equality and climate change at the G7 summit, India's Ministry of External Affairs said.

Mr Modi’s visit is the first by an Indian prime minister since the country conducted nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan in 1974.

Mr Kishida is from Hiroshima, which was destroyed by an atom bomb during the Second World War.

India is not a signatory of the UN's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that prevents the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology.

It opposes the treaty, which allows countries to retain their nuclear powers if they manufactured and exploded a weapon before January 1, 1967.

India says the treaty is discriminative and has argued for a complete ban on nuclear weapons.

After the G7 summit, Mr Modi will visit Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea where he will host the third Summit of the Forum for India–Pacific Islands Co-operation.

The forum involves India and 14 Pacific Island countries.

This will be the first visit by an Indian prime minister to Papua New Guinea.