On March 12 2021, The First-ever Leader-Level Summit of 4 QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) countries – India, Japan, USA & Australia took place virtually.
Participants
- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
- US President Joseph Biden
- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison
- Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga
Highlights
‘Free & Open’ Indo-Pacfic region
- The 4 Countries agreed to work towards an ‘open’ & ‘free’ Indo-Pacific region.
Expert Working Group
Proposals for setting up 3 Expert Working Groups were cleared during the meet. They are
- Vaccine Expert working Group
- Emerging Technology working group
- Climate working group for technology, capacity building & climate finance
QUAD to fund India’s Vaccine Maitri Initiative
The 4 QUAD leaders agreed to launch a Mega Vaccine initiative to fight against COVID-19.
- The leaders plan to send 1 Billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines across Asia by 2022.
- The vaccines needed for the initiative will be produced in additional production capacities in India under the Vaccine Maitri Initiative.
- Financial assistance for setting up additional capacities will be provided by US & Japan, while Australia will contribute in logistical aspects.
Funding
- The US will collaborate with India’s Biological E Ltd for the initiative, it will provide funding through the DFC (Development Finance Corporation).
- Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) will provide financial assistance to enhance India’s vaccine production capacities.
- Australia will contribute USD 77 Million for provision of vaccines and ‘last-mile’ delivery support.
QUAD Grouping
- It was initially proposed & established in 2007 by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.
- In November 2017, during the 2017 ASEAN Summit, the 4 countries agreed to revive the QUAD alliance.
- The alliance aims to counter China’s rising influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
- In September, 2019, The QUAD Foreign ministers held their first meeting under QUAD.
Recent Related News:
i.On December 21, 2020, US President, Donald Trump conferred the ‘Legion of Merit’ to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ; Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia; Former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe. All belonging to the QUAD forum.
ii.November 7, 2020, Phase 1 of the 24th Edition of the Four-nation Naval Exercise Malabar 2020 took place in the Bay of Bengal from November 3-6, 2020. Since 2007, this is the 1st time that all the QUAD members participated in the Malabar Naval Exercise.
