A meeting of QUAD senior officials from India, Australia, Japan and United States was held via video conference to review the progress made by various Quad Working Groups in achieving the commitments made at the May 2023 Quad Leaders’ Summit. The meeting was held on the third of this month.
The Meeting was led by Joint Secretary, Americas, from Ministry of External Affairs K. Nagaraj Naidu, Deputy Secretary-Strategic Planning and Coordination Group, from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Elly Lawson, Deputy Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Fujimoto Kentaro, Assistant Secretary-East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink, and Assistant Secretary-South and Central Asian Affairs from U.S. Department of State Donald Lu.
The offficials also discussed new ideas to further the Quad’s collaboration in delivering public goods in the Indo-Pacific region in areas including health security, digital public infrastructure, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, climate resilience, enhancing maritime domain awareness, countering terrorism and enhancing telecommunication resiliency through undersea cable connectivity.
Our correspondent reports that the meeting provided an opportunity for the officials to exchange views on important regional and international issues of mutual interest. They underscored the Quad’s commitment to a free, open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed the centrality of regional institutions, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Pacific Islands Forum, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association. The Officials looked forward to continuing regular consultations in the lead up to the next Quad Leaders’ Summit to be hosted by India.
