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Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the United States have met together at the Quad Meeting in New Delhi to discuss key security issues in the Indo-Pacific region.
Most notably, the Quad focused on critical mineral and energy security issues, committing over $2 billion to the Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility, Australian Development Investments, and the ASEAN Power Grid.
The Quad also unveiled a joint infrastructure project with the opening of a port in Fiji, which acts as a practical solution to enhancing the infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific, as well as a representation of the tangible commitment of the Quad’s initiatives.
“We are also today announcing the strongest ever commitment from the Quad to the Pacific through the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership, where we are launching a pilot for port infrastructure in Fiji,” said Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong.
“It’s a practical demonstration of our collective ability to deliver high quality, resilient infrastructure in partnership with the region and in response to Pacific priorities.”
The Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Cooperation Initiative was also launched, which will combine collective efforts to increase defence and criminal surveillance in the region.
“[We] will be coordinating our maritime surveillance efforts initially in the Indian Ocean and at Exercise Malabar through the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration Initiative, and we are also expanding the Domain Awareness initiative to the Indian Ocean,” Minister Wong added.
The Quad Critical Minerals Framework was also announced, which will be used to guide how economic policy can work alongside investments strengthening critical minerals supply chains.
The Quad Initiative on Indo-Pacific Energy Security was also discussed and will help to strengthen “energy resilience” and technological cooperations to ensure that energy levels remain stable.
“Each of these four nations represented here today bring unique capabilities that collectively we can bring to bear on some of the most significant problems facing the world, whether it’s a humanitarian response, whether it’s the security of energy, whether it’s the freedom of navigation, whether it’s the need to diversify our supplies of not just energy but critical minerals and supply chains,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“These are areas where all four of our countries, collectively and individually, can bring tremendous assets to bear in terms of solving these problems.”
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