MANILA, Philippines – Two of the youngest world leaders – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – hold their first sit-down meeting at the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Manila on Monday, November 13.
The leaders are attending the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, in their capacity as leaders of two of the regional bloc's dialogue partners.
During the meeting, Ardern publicly invited her Canadian counterpart to visit New Zealand.
"I'm going to put you in the awkward position of inviting you to New Zealand in front of the media,” she said, in a video uploaded by New Zealand news website News Hub.
“It would be great to continue our conversation,” she added.
Prime Minister @jacindaardern has just met with Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau. Lots of discussion, including about climate change, CPTPP, plastic pollution in the oceans, Canada's UN Security Council bid, and feminism. pic.twitter.com/87wNeBS57v
Trudeau also said that they have a lot to talk about.
“We have a lot of conversations already over the past few days but this is an opportunity to dig into bilateral relationships and talk about [issues] we have shared values on,” he said.
“Whether it's a progressive trade agenda, whether it's looking at climate change, whether it's talking about how we're developing a feminist international development policy and feminist foreign policy,” he continued.
The two first met at the APEC Summit in Vietnam earlier this week.
Trudeau, 45, is the second youngest leader in Canada's history after former Prime Minister Joe Clark. (READ: 4 hard truths about Justin Trudeau)
Ardern, 37, has just started serving as New Zealand’s top executive last October. She is currently the world’s youngest female head of government, and is the second youngest ever to be NZ premier. – Rappler.com
