New Delhi: The 4th Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting is being held in Melbourne in Australia today. The meeting is being attended by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne.
Speaking in the meeting, MEA S Jaishankar stressed upon strong bilateral relations as one of the main reasons that made Quad work. “A part of the reason why I think Quad has worked so well is because our bilateral relations have been very strong. Surely, I expect the progress in our bilateral relations to be there in Quad as well,” he said.
He further said that this meeting is an opportunity to review the progress on the guidance given out by the leaders of Quad nations. “In Sept, you(Australian PM), our PM, Pres Biden, PM of Japan, collectively gave us guidance, laid out a vision for Quad. I want to assure you that we've all been at work. I think today's meeting gives us an opportunity to review how much we've progressed on that,” he added.
MEA S Jaishankar and US State Secretary also held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 4th Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting being held in Melbourne, Australia.
US State Secretary Antony Blinken Advocates A "Free And Open Indo-Pacific"
Us Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted, "What's so striking to me as we get together is, that this is a group of countries brought together not by what we are against but what we are for. That quite simply is a free and open Indo-Pacific."
People deserve to live freely, countries deserve to have the freedom to work together and associate with whom they choose. Together we can demonstrate that we are effective in bringing benefits to all of our people," he stressed further.
We Have A Lot To Discuss, Says Marise Payne
Australian Foreign Minister speaking during the meeting said that there was a "very big job" coming ahead which is to discuss several global issues like maritime security, terrorism among others. "We have a very big job this afternoon, we have a lot to discuss-our maritime security addressing critical technologies issues, counter-terrorism, our efforts to work together on climate in the region & importantly vaccine delivery," she said.
"We can now affirm that the Quad as a grouping has delivered over 500 million vaccines over our commitment in the region. Across Indo-Pacific, those partnerships are very, very important," she added.
Japan Looking Forward To Host Quad Meeting
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is looking forward to hosting the Quad Leaders' Meeting in Japan in the first half of this year, said Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi during the meeting.