Justin Trudeau introduces 'friend in Australia' as he forgets Anthony Albanese's name at Nato summit

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, momentarily forgot his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese's name at an awkward meeting on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Madrid.

The pair shook hands and posed for photos on Thursday morning after a discussion on climate change.

“It's a real pleasure to be meeting with ah ... ah ... a great progressive leader,” Mr Trudeau said as he waved his hands in the air and stumbled over his words.

“We're really, really excited to have ah ... ah, a friend in Australia. Australia has been a long-time friend.”

The Australian leader did not seem affronted by the gaffe before Mr Trudeau corrected himself and referred to his counterpart 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," Mr Trudeau added.

Mr Albanese celebrated the meeting as “very successful”.

“We have very similar political perspectives,” he added.

The pair have invited each other to their respective countries, where they are expected to speak further about climate change.

Mr Albanese also met with the leaders of Italy, Germany and the European Commission, as well as New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.

He also participated in a one-on-one meeting with Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, in which they pledged to work together on climate change and security in the Indo-Pacific region.

Up next for Mr Albanese is a trip to France to meet with Emmanuel Macron, in the hopes of repairing a fraught relationship damaged by a scrapped submarine deal.

It is not the first time an Australian leader has had his name forgotten.

Joe Biden, the US president, referred to then-leader Scott Morrison as “that fellow down under” after appearing to forget his name last year.