Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears to forget Anthony Albanese’s name

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to forget Anthony Albanese‘s name during an awkward encounter at the NATO Summit.

The Australian leader met with Mr Trudeau in Madrid on Thursday morning local time, with the pair shaking hands and posing for photos.

‘It’s a real pleasure to be meeting with ah … ah … a great progressive leader,’ Trudeau said as he stumbled and threw his hands in the air.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to forget Anthony Albanese ‘s name during an awkward encounter at the NATO Summit

‘We’re really, really excited to have ah … ah, a friend in Australia. Australia has been a long-time friend’.

Mr Albanese seemed unfazed by the apparent slip up before Mr Trudeau saved himself and referred to him as ‘Prime Minister Albanese’.

‘With Prime Minister Albanese we have someone who we’re going to be able to dig into on climate change, on inclusive economic growth, on reconciliation, on a range of issues that we know our citizens want us to step up on,’ he said.

The Australian leader met with Mr Trudeau in Madrid on Thursday morning, with the pair shaking hands and posing for photos

Mr Albanese has been invited to visit Canada by Mr Trudeau, with the pair excited to work together on policies like climate change.

The Aussie PM said the meeting had been ‘very successful’.

‘We have very similar political perspectives and Prime Minister Trudeau has invited me to visit Canada. I’ve invited him to visit Australia,’ he said.

Last year US President Joe Biden appeared to forget Scott Morrison’s name, instead referring him to as ‘that fellow Down Under’.

Mr Albanese will now jet off to Paris to mend the relationship with the French over a scrapped submarine deal.

Mr Albanese is seen speaking to the media in Paris. He’s travelled to France in a bid to repair the relationship with French President Emmanuel Macron

The prime minister spoke at the NATO Summit in Madrid on Wednesday, where he warned world leaders of China’s assertive and expanding influence in the Pacific, which he said threatened regional security.

Mr Albanese met with the leaders of Italy, Germany and the European Commission, as well as New Zealand, Japan and South Korea – who alongside Australia form a group known as the Asia-Pacific Four.

He also held a one-on-one with his UK counterpart Boris Johnson, gifting him a Rabbitohs rugby league jersey at their first meeting as leaders and pledging to work together on security in the Indo-Pacific region and climate change.

The prime minister will on Friday be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace.

Mr Albanese is visiting at the invitation of Mr Macron, with the two to work on repairing the damaged relationship after a $90 billion submarine deal with Naval Group was dumped in favour of nuclear-powered submarines to be provided under the AUKUS partnership with the United States and United Kingdom.

It is yet to be confirmed whether Mr Albanese will take up Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s offer to visit him in Kyiv as a show of support for his war-torn country.

The prime minister said security assessments are still underway.