Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, EAM Affairs S Jaishankar, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pose following a Quad ministerial meeting. (AP Photo)
Quad Foreign Ministers meeting LIVE:China on Tuesday reiterated its stance on the Quad, saying cooperation between countries should not target any third party. The group agreed to jointly build a port in Fiji under the newly announced Quad Ports of the Future Partnership. Fiji was among the first Pacific Island nations to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Beijing on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Major initiatives announced: After their meeting, the foreign ministers of the Quad member states announced an array of initiatives to strengthen cooperation. Marco Rubio announced a host of information-sharing initiatives aimed at enhancing maritime surveillance capabilities and commercial maritime data awareness. Australia’s Penny Wong announced the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership aimed at strengthening maritime infrastructure in the Pacific Islands, and plans to improve port infrastructure in Fiji.
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Key multilateral frameworks announced:
- Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Cooperation Initiative: This aims to improve maritime surveillance and information-sharing across the Indo-Pacific.
- Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative: This will be expanded to provide near-real-time commercial maritime data to countries in the region.
- Quad Ports of the Future Partnership: This is for port infrastructure development in the Pacific Islands. Under this, the Quad will work with Fiji to improve its port infrastructure.
- Quad Critical Minerals Framework: This is aimed at strengthening critical mineral supply chains and their recycling. China currently dominates the global supply chain (by accounting for 85 per cent of processing capacity). After Bejing curbed exports last year, several countries have looked at diversifying sources. Pax Silica was one such initiative, which India officially joined Pax Silica in on February this year, on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit.
India, US sign critical minerals bilateral framework: India and the US signed a bilateral framework to secure the supply and processing of critical minerals and rare earths on Tuesday following the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meet. His announcement also comes after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the Quad Critical Minerals Framework, an initiative aimed at strengthening critical mineral supply chains and their recycling.
The Quad Foreign Ministers meeting was held at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. EAM S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi and Australia’s Penny Wong attended the meeting, which marked the third such gathering since September 2024.
