As Türkiye and Australia vie to host the COP31 summit, the Australian prime minister announced on Sunday that he had written to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the matter.
Australia and Türkiye submitted bids in 2022 to host the United Nations climate conference and both countries have refused to concede to the other ever since.
Asked on Sunday if he thought Australia would end up as host, Albanese said: "There's no real process for finalizing the matter. I've written to President Erdoğan of Türkiye, we're continuing to engage."
"It's hard when there's no consensus, when you've got two bids. Our bid, of course, is in partnership with the Pacific," Albanese added, according to an official transcript of remarks on Sky News television.
A regional diplomatic bloc of 18 countries, the Pacific Islands Forum, is backing Australia's bid. Several Pacific island nations are at risk from rising seas.
Albanese said Australia wanted to ensure the interests of Pacific island nations are protected. "They're particularly vulnerable to climate change. For them, countries like Tuvalu and Kiribati, this is an existential threat to their very existence, which is why this is such a strong issue in our region," he said.
Türkiye has previously argued its Mediterranean location would help reduce emissions from flights bringing delegates to the conference, and has pointed out its smaller oil and gas industry compared to Australia.
In July, the U.N. urged Australia and Türkiye to resolve the impasse over hosting. It set a June deadline for the group to reach consensus.
The annual talks rotate through five regional groups, with COP31's host needing to be unanimously agreed upon by the 28 members of the Western Europe and Others Group bloc.
