AUSTRALIA SAYS IT WOULD WELCOME INVITATION

MELBOURNE Australia would welcome an official invitation to the Group of Seven (G7) nations and there has been contact on the matter between the prime minister and the United States, a government spokesman said on Sunday.

“The G7 has been a topic of recent high-level exchanges,” the spokesman said in an emailed comment. “Australia would welcome an official invitation. Strengthening international co-operation among like-minded countries is valued at a time of unprecedented global challenges.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday he would postpone a G7 summit he had hoped to hold next month until September or later and expand the list of invitees to include Australia, Russia, South Korea and India.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been so far one of very few world leaders to pay a state visit to Washington during Trump’s tenure, and both leaders have openly signalled their camaraderie.