Australia’s Albanese confident on AUKUS pact after meeting UK’s Starmer

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SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed confidence on Friday that the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal with the U.S. and Britain would move forward, after meeting his British counterpart, Keir Starmer.

Speaking in London, Albanese said the meeting was a chance to discuss the “strongly building” support for AUKUS between the two allies but would not be drawn on the position of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The AUKUS pact, sealed in 2021, aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the next decade to counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.

Trump’s administration is undertaking a formal AUKUS review led by Elbridge Colby, a top Pentagon policy official and public critic of the agreement.

Asked if his meeting with Starmer gave him increased confidence that AUKUS would proceed, Albanese said: “I have always been confident about AUKUS going ahead.

“Every meeting I’ve had and discussions I’ve had with people in the U.S. administration have always been positive about AUKUS,” he said, according to an official transcript.

Under AUKUS – worth hundreds of billions of dollars – Washington will sell several Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Canberra, while Britain and Australia will later build a new AUKUS-class submarine.

Australia and Britain signed a treaty in July to bolster cooperation over the next 50 years on AUKUS.

During his visit, Albanese is also expected to meet with King Charles, Australia’s official head of state.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard)