New Tuvalu PM holds first talks with Australia’s Albanese

Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo spoke for the first time since taking office with his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, a Tuvalu official said on Saturday, after the Pacific Island leader called for changes to a landmark bilateral treaty.
Teo, announced as prime minister late last month after a January election, has said he wanted changes to some security provisions in the security and climate migration treaty signed in November.
The two leaders spoke by telephone on Friday, the Tuvalu official said, without giving details of the conversation. Albanese’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Falepili Union treaty allows 280 people a year to migrate from Tuvalu, an island nation of 11,000 people that is threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change.
Under the treaty Australia provides Tuvalu with a defence guarantee and can vet a wide range of its security arrangements with other countries, from port, energy, cyber and telecommunications to policing.