Wilmington/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a free, open, inclusive, and prosperous Indo-Pacific is the shared priority of the Quad countries, and the bloc comprising India, US, Australia and Japan, is “here to stay, to assist, to partner, and to complement”.
In his address at the fourth Quad in-person Leaders’ Summit, in Wilmington, Delaware, the PM said the Quad meeting, with fellow Quad leaders – US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Anthony Albanese, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida – is taking place at a time when the world is surrounded by tensions and conflicts.
“In such a situation, it is crucial for the QUAD to unite around our shared democratic values for the greater good of humanity.
“We are not against anyone. We all support a rules-based international order, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the peaceful resolution of all issues,” the PM said.
“Free, open, inclusive, and prosperous Indo-Pacific is our shared priority and shared commitment. We have collaboratively undertaken numerous positive and inclusive initiatives in areas such as Health, Security, Critical and Emerging Technologies, Climate Change, and Capacity Building.
“Our message is unequivocal: QUAD is here to stay, to assist, to partner, and to complement,” the PM said, and that since the first Summit in 2021 the Quad countries have unprecedentedly expanded their collaboration across all fronts.
He said President Biden’s personal involvement has been instrumental in this achievement and thanked the outgoing US President for his unwavering commitment to QUAD, his leadership, and his contribution.
“We look forward to hosting the QUAD Leaders’ Summit in India in 2025,” the PM said.
Later, in a post on X, the PM said:
“Glad to have met Quad Leaders during today’s Summit in Wilmington, Delaware. The discussions were fruitful, focusing on how Quad can keep working to further global good. We will keep working together in key sectors like healthcare, technology, climate change and capacity building.”
Some of the important deliverables from India that were announced at the Summit include:
* Leaders welcomed the ‘Quad Principles for Development and Deployment of Digital Public Infrastructure’ for the region and beyond. Through DPI, the Quad partners have agreed to provide equitable access and improve public service delivery at scale; governed by applicable legal frameworks that provide for a level playing field to drive development, inclusion, innovation, trust, and competition.
* India will offer technical assistance and capacity building on DPI in cancer care to interested countries from the Indo-Pacific region through its commitment of $10 million to the WHO’s Global Initiative on Digital Health.
* India will provide $7.5 million worth HPV sampling kits, detection kits and cervical cancer vaccines to countries in the Indo-Pacific as part of the Quad Cancer Moonshot Initiative.
* A commitment from the Serum Institute of India, in partnership with Gavi and the Quad, to support orders of up to 40 million HPV vaccine doses for the Indo-Pacific region.
* As part of Quad’s activities in the space domain, India is setting up a space-based web portal for Mauritius to assist in monitoring of extreme weather events and climate impacts.
* India will invest $ 2 million in setting up new solar projects in Fiji, Comoros, Madagascar, and Seychelles.
* Quad partners agreed to launch a ‘Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific’ (MAITRI) , which will enable our partners in the region to maximize tools provided through IPMDA and other Quad partner initiatives, to monitor and secure their waters, enforce their laws, and deter unlawful behavior. India will host the inaugural MAITRI workshop in 2025 (during India’s Quad Presidency).
* India announced new category of scholarships for students of the Indo-Pacific region which would enable them to pursue a four-year bachelor’s level engineering programme at a Government of India funded technical institute.
* India will host the inaugural Quad Ports of the Future Partnership conference which will harness the Quad’s expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific.
* In the area of sustainable and resilient port infrastructure, India will be hosting a capacity building workshop with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
UNI
