Quad meet in Australia today amid pandemic, Ukraine crisis

India, Australia, the USA, and Japan comprise the Quad nations. The Quad has been focusing cooperation in areas such as producing vaccines, connectivity projects, facilitating the mobility of students, and looking at promoting startups and technology collaboration.

Amid the mounting tensions between Russia and the West over the Ulkraine crisis, the Afghanistan situation and China flexing its muscles in the Indo-Pacific region, top leaders of the Quad nations will meet on Friday, February 11, in Melbourne, Australia.

India, Australia, the USA, and Japan comprise the Quad nations. The Quad has been focusing cooperation in areas such as producing vaccines, connectivity projects, facilitating the mobility of students, and looking at promoting startups and technology collaboration.

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India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is slated to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken first in a bilateral interaction. The Quad meeting, featuring Jaishankar, Blinken, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, will start at 10:30 am. The meeting is expected to go on till 12.55 pm, after which the leaders will address the press.

The meeting, being hosted by Payne, will focus on coronavirus vaccine distribution, countering terrorism and cooperation in maritime security and climate change. The Quad vaccine partnership was announced in March last year with an aim to deliver one billion doses of vaccines to the Indo-Pacific region by the end of 2022.

The Quad is also pursuing work on 5G technology and vendor diversification to maintain a diverse, open and interoperable telecommunication ecosystem through collaboration.

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