Quad Senior Officials from the Ministry of External Affairs of India, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade of Australia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and Department of State of the United States of America met by video conference on Thursday 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 led by Shri K. Nagaraj Naidu, Joint Secretary (Americas) from Ministry of External Affairs of India; Elly Lawson, Deputy Secretary (Strategic Planning and Coordination Group), from Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia; Fujimoto Kentaro, Ambassador in charge of Quad cooperation/ Deputy Director-General of Foreign Policy Bureau, from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan; and Daniel Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary (East Asian and Pacific Affairs) and Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary (South and Central Asian Affairs), from U.S. Department of State.
"They also discussed new ideas to further the Quad’s collaboration in delivering public goods in the Indo-Pacific region in areas such as health security, digital public infrastructure, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), climate resilience, enhancing maritime domain awareness, countering terrorism and enhancing telecommunication resiliency through undersea cable connectivity," read the statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.
The meeting also 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 (ASEAN), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
The Officials look forward to continuing regular consultations in the lead up to the next Quad Leaders’ Summit to be hosted by India.
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