Fourth Quad Ministerial Meeting

• 12 Feb 2022

On 11^th February, 2022, the fourth Quad Ministerial Meeting was held in Melbourne, Australia. India's Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, and Foreign Minister of Japan Yoshimasa Hayashi participated in the meeting. A joint statement was released after the meeting.

(Image Source: The Hindu)

Key Highlights

• Climate Change: The members agreed to hold a special meet on climate change this year.
• Maritime Security:The participants also decided to step up efforts to ensure maritime security in the region.
• Terrorism: They called on all countries to ensure that territory under their control is not used to launch terror attacks and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of such attacks.
• They reiterated their condemnation of terrorist attacks in India, including 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks
• China’s Actions: The statement also made a veiled reference to China’s actions in the South and East China seas, reaffirming a commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, “in which states strive to protect the interests of their people, free from coercion.”
• Indo-Pacific: The grouping committed to stronger cooperation on Indo-Pacific initiatives.
• Myanmar Issue: India said it is “troubled” by the situation in Myanmar post-coup, but its thinking is guided by concerns over cross border insurgencies, COVID infections, and concerns of a humanitarian situation that could arise from food shortages in Myanmar.
• The US, on the other hand, pushed for countries to stop arms trade with the Myanmar military.
• The joint statement called for a return to democracy in Myanmar, and also condemned North Korea’s recent ballistic missile tests.
• Russia-Ukraine Situation: Foreign Ministers of Australia, Japan and the US took a sharp line on the buildup of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine in recent weeks. The Russia-Ukraine situation did not find any mention in the joint statement though.
• Vaccines Initiative: The joint statement issued included a renewed commitment to the “flagship” Quad Vaccine Initiative to deliver at least one billion vaccines produced in India by the end of 2022 to Indo-Pacific countries, and to a pledge to donate 1.3 billion vaccine doses globally.
• Review of Cooperation: The joint statement also recorded progress on the other fields for cooperation identified during the Quad summit last year, including climate change, critical and emerging technologies, counter-terrorism, infrastructure, humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief (HADR) and maritime domain awareness.