Anthony Albanese has noted his Italian heritage and hoped to progress discussions on Australia's free trade agreement with the European Union during talks at the G20 Summit.
The prime minister met European Council president Charles Michel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the summit in Bali on Wednesday.
"Australia has such strong ties with Europe. Indeed, we have a prime minister with a name like Albanese and a large diaspora in Australia from throughout Europe," Mr Albanese said.
Mr Michel said Australia and Europe shared the same values and wanted peace and prosperity.
"It is so important to show our unity and our determination (and) to convince Russia to end this war as soon as possible," he said.
Mr Albanese said reports about missile attacks in Poland, which killed two people near the Ukrainian border, were "deeply concerning".
"We need to have a full investigation as to how this has occurred ... and then we should consider what, as an international community, is an appropriate response," he said.
Mr Albanese will later have have formal bilateral talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day.
The talks follow an emergency leaders' meeting involving the United States, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom about the missile strikes on the sidelines of the summit.
Following the meeting, US President Joe Biden said it was too early to say if the missile was fired from Russia, but the source was being investigated.
All leaders earlier gathered at a mangrove forest in Bali which plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has been keen to showcase his commitment to tackling the global issue and encourage his fellow leaders to do the same.
The leaders planted new mangrove trees together in a symbolic show of unity on climate change action and will next take part in a summit session about digital transformation.
Sergei Lavrov, who headed the Russian delegation to the summit in the absence of President Vladimir Putin, did not attend.
with Reuters
