QUAD Summit 2022

Leaders of the 'Quadrilateral Security Dialogue', better known as Quad, met on 24th May 2022 in Tokyo, Japan. This was the Quad leaders' fourth summit and the second in-person meeting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese, and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida advanced the Quad's ambitious and diverse agenda for an inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific.

The Quad is a strategic group comprising four nations India, United States of America, Australia and Japan. Established in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami to coordinate humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, the Quad has since become a leading regional partnership dedicated to advancing a common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific through practical cooperation on diverse 21st Century challenges. The leaders had their first virtual meeting in March 2021, in-person summit in Washington D.C. in September 2021 and virtual meeting in March 2022.

With six leader-level working groups-on COVID-19 Response and Global Health Security, Climate, Critical and Emerging Technologies, Cyber, Space, and Infrastructure-the Quad is building habits of cooperation among the four countries that supports a more peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS

Maritime Domain Awareness and HADR

A new maritime domain awareness initiative, the Indo Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), designed to work with regional partners to respond to humanitarian and natural disasters and combat illegal fishing, was announced. IPMDA will support and work in consultation with Indo-Pacific nations and regional information fusion centers in the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands by providing technology and training to support enhanced, shared maritime domain awareness to promote stability and prosperity in our seas and oceans. IPMDA will build a faster, wider, and more accurate maritime picture of near-real-time activities in partners' waters. The benefits of this picture are vast: it will allow tracking of "dark shipping" and other tactical level activities, such as rendezvous at sea, as well as improve partners' ability to respond to climate and humanitarian events and to protect their fisheries.

Delivering on their commitment following the virtual meeting in March 2022, the establishment of the "Quad Partnership on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) in the Indo-Pacific" was also announced. This Partnership is intended to further strengthen the collaboration between the member countries to effectively respond to disasters in the region.

Quad Fellowship

A new Quad Fellowship programme was at the Tokyo summit and is now open for application. This is a first-of-its kind scholarship program that will bring together the top minds of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Fellowship will sponsor one hundred students per year, 25 from each Quad country, to pursue master's and doctoral degrees at leading STEM graduate universities in the United States. The first class of Quad Fellows will begin their studies in the third quarter of 2023. The Fellowship will build a talented cohort of next generation STEM minds who will lead our countries in cutting edge research and innovation. The Quad Fellowship application is live (www.quadfellowship.org/ apply) and will remain open until June 30, 2022.

COVID-19 and Global Health Security

The Quad reiterated its commitment to maintain its global leadership in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and bolstering global health security. To date, Quad partners have collectively delivered over 670 million vaccine doses, including at least 265 million doses to Indo Pacific. In addition, the Quad partners have collectively pledged approximately USD $ 5.2 billion to the COVAX AMC. The Quad welcomed the progress on the expansion of J&J vaccine production at the Biological E facility in India under the Quad Vaccine Partnership.

Peace and Stability

The Quad discussed the member countries' respective responses to the conflict in Ukraine and the ongoing tragic humanitarian crisis, and assessed its implications for the Indo-Pacific. Quad leaders reiterated their resolve to maintain the peace and stability in the region. The Quad welcomed the EU's Joint Communication on the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific which was announced in September 2021 and increased European engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. Adherence to international law and the maintenance of freedom of navigation and over flight, to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South China Seas were also reiterated at the Summit.

The Quad reaffirmed the commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) and also reconfirmed the necessity of immediate resolution of the issue of Japanese abductees. The Quad also expressed concern over the crisis in Myanmar and reaffirmed their fight against global terrorism.

Infrastructure

Reaffirming the shared commitment to deepen cooperation on infrastructure that is critical to driving productivity and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, Quad will seek to extend more than 50 billion USD of infrastructure assistance and investment in the Indo-Pacific, over the next five years.

The Quad shall work to strengthen capacities of the countries in need to cope with debt issues under the G20 Common Framework and by promoting debt sustainability and transparency in close collaboration with finance authorities of relevant countries, including through the 'Quad Debt Management Resource Portal', which consists of multiple bilateral and multilateral capacity building assistance.

Climate

The 'Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP)' was launched with 'mitigation' and 'adaptation' as its two themes. Q-CHAMP includes ongoing activities under the Quad Climate Working Group on: green shipping and ports aiming for a shared green corridor framework building on each Quad country's input; clean energy cooperation in clean hydrogen and methane emissions from the natural gas sector; strengthening clean energy supply chains, welcoming the contribution of the Sydney Energy Forum; climate information services for developing an engagement strategy with Pacific island countries; and disaster risk reduction, including disaster and climate resilient infrastructure such as the efforts through the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). Its coverage includes new cooperation in clean fuel ammonia, CCUS/Carbon Recycling, cooperation and capacity building support to advance high integrity carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, climate smart agriculture, knowledge sharing on subnational climate actions, and ecosystem-based adaptation.

Cybersecurity

The Quad partners pledged to coordinate capacity building programs in the Indo-Pacific region under the 'Quad Cybersecurity Partnership'. A Quad Cybersecurity Day is also on the cards to help individual internet users across the member nations, the IndoPacific region, and beyond to better protect themselves from cyber threats.

Critical & Emerging Technologies

In the area of 5G and beyond 5G, while welcoming the Prague Proposals on Telecommunications Supplier Diversity, the Quad will advance interoperability and security through the signature of a new Memorandum of Cooperation on 5G Supplier Diversification and Open RAN. The Quad are also deepening their engagement with industry, including through Open RAN Track 1.5 events, and exploring ways to collaborate on the deployment of open and secure telecommunications technologies in the region. A Common Statement of Principles on Critical Technology Supply Chains was launched at the Summit. This advances Quad's cooperation on semiconductors and other critical technologies.

Space

The Quad member states pledged to work together to create an Earth observation based monitoring and sustainable development framework. They will endeavor to share space-based civil Earth observation data, along with providing a 'Quad Satellite Data Portal' that aggregates links to respective national satellite data resources. The Quad will work together to develop space applications, including in the area of Earth observations, and provide capacity building support to countries in the region, including with regards to partnering on using space capabilities to respond to extreme precipitation events.

-EN Team

Source: PIB