The group of ministers, who held their fourth Quad ministerial meeting in Melbourne on Friday also resolved to speed up delivery of more than a billion Covid vaccines to be manufactured in India, to hold a special meet on climate change this year, and step efforts to ensure maritime security in the region. They announced plans for a Quad summit including PM Modi, U.S. President Biden and Australian PM Morrison to be hosted by Japan’s PM Kishida in Tokyo in the “first half of 2022”.
The interactions that we have had, has made it evident that robust bilateral relations between our respective countries, our strategic convergences, and our shared democratic values have all combined to make the Quad a vibrant and substantial framework. We are building an agenda which seeks to further our shared vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. We are keen to work together to further peace and stability and economic prosperity in the Indo-Pacific through collective efforts which address contemporary issues.
In this context we will continue to support our ASEAN partners in their efforts to uphold peace, stability and prosperity in the region. Their centrality is important to recognize and reiterate. We reviewed the Quad’s ongoing efforts to combat the Covid pandemic and agreed to expedite delivery of safe and affordable vaccines, support capacity building and augment infrastructure for last mile delivery. Quad’s discussions and efforts to build resilient supply chains, enhance availability of trusted critical technologies, counter disinformation and uphold rules based multilateral trading system will contribute to fostering global economic resilience. I welcome the Quad’s shared desire to address common global threats such as terrorism, strengthen maritime domain awareness, provide timely HADR assistance, and assist countries in the Indo-Pacific in the area of cybersecurity.
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Vaccines initiative
The joint statement issued included a renewed commitment to the “flagship” Quad Vaccine initiative to deliver at least one billion vaccines produced at Hyderabad’s Biological E facility by the end of 2022 to Indo-Pacific countries, and to a pledge to donate 1.3 billion vaccine doses globally. It also recorded progress on the other fields for cooperation identified during the Quad summit last year, including climate change, critical and emerging technologies, counter-terrorism, infrastructure, humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief (HADR) and maritime domain awareness.
Bilateral meetings
After the Quad meeting, Mr. Jaishankar also held separate bilateral meetings with Mr. Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa. Mr. Jaishankar is due to meet Mr. Blinken in Washington for a “2+2” along with India-US defence ministers, for a meeting that has been delayed since November.
In talks with Mr. Yoshimasa, Mr. Jaishankar also hoped to welcome the Japanese PM Kishida for a visit to India, that has been delayed since former PM Shinzo Abe put off his trip in December 2019, and the two ministers agreed to hold the next round of the India-Japan 2+2 soon.
