Tony Abbott to discuss Islamic State, G20 with Barack Obama in Beijing

TONY Abbott will meet Barack Obama tomorrow to discuss the war against the Islamic State and his agenda for the G20 meeting.

TONY Abbott will meet United States President Barack Obama tomorrow to discuss the war against the Islamic State terrorist group in the Middle East and his growth agenda for next weekend’s G20 meeting in Brisbane.

The Prime Minister, who is due to arrive in Beijing tonight for the APEC summit, is also likely to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the next few days ahead of the two leaders travelling to Australia.

While the meeting with Mr Obama will also be aimed at fine tuning the G20 agenda — including economic reforms to boost world growth 2 per cent and promote infrastructure investment — Mr Abbott is seeking the meeting with the Russian leader to demand cooperation on the MH17 investigation.

Both Russia and Australia are understood to agree that it would “beneficial’’ to meet during APEC and the delegations for both leaders are trying to find a mutually agreeable time for it to happen.

Mr Abbott famously declared he would “shirt-front’’ Mr Putin at the G20 meeting over the downing of MH17 but a meeting in Beijing would ensure that the crucial economic summit in Brisbane is not derailed by the issue.

Trade Minister Andrew Robb said Mr Abbott needed to have a “blunt” conversation with Mr Putin because 28 Australians and 8 residents of Australia were murdered when MH17 was downed over Ukraine.

“The Prime Minister is very much within his rights but also has a responsibility as he sees it to represent the Australian people and ensure that those who caused these murders are brought to justice,’’ Mr Robb said.

At the APEC meeting the leaders will be asked to approve the start of talks to create a regional free trade area in the Asia Pacific.

In 2013, Indonesia led APEC to focus on supporting the multilateral trading system and promoting free trade and China has taken these themes forward this year.

The leaders are expected to be asked to sign a Beijing accord to boost cooperation on economic reform and growth.