Mr. S. Jaishankar, Minister for External Affairs (MEA) is on route to Australia today to attend a high-profile multilateral meeting with the Quad Ministers of Australia Ms. Marise Payne, of US Mr. Antony Blinken, of Japan Mr. Hayashi Yoshimasa.
This meeting is primarily summoned to discuss the liaison on vaccines, on technology and regional security & border issues related to China.
This will be Mr. Jaishankar’s first visit to Australia as an external affairs minister; emphasis will be mostly on the combined vision of all the four participating countries for a free, open and inclusive Indo-pacific region.
The MEA said,” The Ministers will review the ongoing Quad cooperation and build on the positive and constructive agenda announced by the leaders at the two summits in 2021, to address contemporary challenges, supply chains, critical technologies, climate change, infrastructure.”
In the itinerary of Mr. Jaishankar, there is a separate dialogue with his Australian counterpart Ms. Payne.
After his trip to Australia on the 13th February 2022, Mr. Jaishankar is to visit the Philippines. In January 2022 India had signed a remarkable $375 million deal with the Philippines for dispensing the ‘Brahmos’ Supersonic cruise missiles. The MEA said their visits would “gain momentum” with India’s key partners in the Indo-pacific, Australia and the Philippines; which is a prominent member of ASEAN.
Incidentally, the MEA statement avoided mentioning China, However, US officials were enthusiastic of taking up the ‘challenges that China poses’.
The February 2022 Quad meeting aims to lay the foundation for a second Quad leaders summit most probably to convene this summer.
September 2021 saw the first quad meeting in Washington by the four leaders, to discuss their ambitions agenda for relentless support on vaccines, regional infrastructure, latest 5G technology.
It has been pledged jointly by India, the US, Japan and Australia that more than 1.2 billion COVID-19 vaccines will be donated globally and produce at least a billion doses by the end of 2022.
