At a top-level meeting in Washington on Tuesday, the Quad group’s foreign ministers India, the United States, Australia, and Japan discussed ways to increase the effectiveness of the group in addressing various global challenges. The meeting also prepared the stage for the Quad summit, which will be held annually in India later this year, expected to be in November.
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya attended the deliberations. Calling the meeting “very productive,” Jaishankar explained the talks centered on how to make the Quad more effective in confronting the challenges and opportunities of today.
This meeting will increase strategic stability in the Indo-Pacific and keep it free and open,” Jaishankar wrote in a social media release.
Addressing journalists before the meeting, Jaishankar stressed the need to make the Quad more united, nimble, and streamlined, which would result in more impactful outcomes. He underlined the grouping’s guarantee of ensuring a free, open, and rules-based Indo-Pacific, insisting that countries in the region must be able to independently decide how they want to develop and be secure.
Jaishankar also pointed to recent achievements in several Quad-led efforts, such as collaboration in the maritime sector, logistics, education, and political coordination. He observed that the grouping is increasingly working towards enlarging areas of convergence and creating commonalities among its members.
Jaishankar is on an official US visit from June 30 to July 2 at the invitation of Secretary Rubio. The Quad remains a crucial multilateral platform for securing peace, security, and regional cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.