PM MODI, BIDEN TO MEET VIRTUALLY FOR QUAD SUMMIT ON 12 MARCH

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in the first virtual summit of leaders of the Quadrilateral (Quad) Framework on 12 March. In the summit, he will be joined by US President Joseph Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

In a release, the government said that the leaders will discuss regional and global issues of shared interest, and exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The meeting gains importance in the wake of growing Chinese belligerence, especially amid the Covid times.

“The Summit will provide an opportunity to exchange views on contemporary challenges such as resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change,” the statement said.

Apart from this, the Quad leaders will also discuss ongoing efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and explore opportunities for collaboration in ensuring safe, equitable and affordable vaccines in the Indo-Pacific region.

Earlier in the day, PM Modi held a telephonic conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga during which they discussed deepening collaboration bilaterally as well as under the Quad framework to enhance cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. The conversation lasted for forty minutes.

The two leaders shared the recognition that cooperation towards realising a free and open Indo-Pacific is becoming increasingly important and to this end, shared the view to steadily advance both Japan-India bilateral cooperation and Japan-Australia-India-US quadrilateral cooperation, according to a press release of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Japan.

“The two leaders also exchanged views on the regional situation. In this context, Prime Minister Suga expressed serious concerns regarding unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China Sea, China’s Coast Guard Law and the situation in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR),” the release said.