क्वाड यहां रहने, करने और जाने के लिए यहां है, कहते हैं विदेश मंत्री जयशंकर
Only the Quad collaboration can ensure that the Indo-Pacific remains free, stable, and secure, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said, emphasising that “it is only our collective endeavours that can proof the international system against disruptions”.
 
Delivering his opening remarks at the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Tokyo, Japan on Monday (July 29, 2024), he also said that the meeting should send a clear message - that the Quad is here to stay, here to do and here to go.
 
The meeting was attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko, and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
 
"As political democracies, pluralistic societies and market economies, there is the key question of upholding a rules-based order. It is only our collaboration that can ensure that the Indo-Pacific remains free, remains open, stable, secure and prosperous," he stated.
 
"It is therefore essential that our political understanding strengthens, our economic partnerships grow, our technology collaborations expand and our people-to-people comfort intensifies," EAM Jaishankar explained. 
 
“These are not easy times. A major challenge is to ensure global economic growth, while also de-risking it,” EAM Jaishankar pointed out, adding that supply chains were a particular focus for resilience, along with the push for trusted and transparent digital partnerships.
 
“The march of technology has also acquired extraordinary proportions, holding possibilities of the very manner in which we live, think and act. In a sense, we are in the midst of a re-globalization. At the same time, it is only our collective endeavours that can proof the international system against disruptions, man-made or natural,” EAM Jaishankar elaborated.
 
‘Quad a Platform that Generates Practical Outcomes’
Speaking at the press conference after their meeting, EAM Jaishankar noted that Quad had built up an expansive agenda over the last few years.
 
This ranges from trusted telecom technology and under-sea cable connectivity to humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR), critical and emerging technologies, cyber and health security, climate action, infrastructure, capacity building and training, STEM education, maritime domain awareness and counter terrorism, he pointed out.
 
“This is not a talk shop but a platform that generates practical outcomes,” he remarked. He went on to give some specific examples:
 
1. The Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness initiative discussed at the Monday meeting links information fusion centres.
2. The Open-RAN network is being deployed in Palau.
3. A space-based climate warning system will be launched soon in Mauritius.
4. Off-grid solar projects are actually happening in the Indo-Pacific islands.
5. During Covid, Quad nations cooperated to deliver vaccines to countries in this region.
6. The first cohort of Quad STEM fellowships is passing out and the second one will also cover ASEAN.
 
According to EAM Jaishankar, the overall messaging is that the four Quad countries were working together for a free and open Indo-Pacific, for a rules-based order and for global good. “That by itself is a powerful stabilizing factor in an uncertain and volatile world,” he stated.
 
Discussions at the Tokyo meeting hold significance as India is set to host the Quad Leaders’ Summit later this year. “We look forward to India hosting the next Quad Leaders’ Summit later this year, and to the United States hosting the next Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting in 2025,” the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Joint Statement said.
 
The leaders of the Quad nations—US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi— last met in Hiroshima for the fifth Quad Leaders' Summit in May 2023.