Quad force for global good: Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 12

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the Quad has come of age and will remain an important pillar of stability in the region.

“Our agenda today — covering areas like vaccines, climate change and emerging technologies — makes the Quad a force for global good. I see this positive vision as an extension of India’s ancient philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which regards the world as one family,” said the PM at the first-ever Quad summit.

“We are united by our democratic values and commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” he said in reference to the regional threat from China.

Modi participated in the summit along with Prime Ministers Scott Morrison of Australia and Yoshihide Suga of Japan, and US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

As per a joint statement, among the first initiatives of the Quad will be vaccine development with India set to manufacture one billion doses of American vaccines that will be supplied to Pacific, Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean Rim countries.

“The four countries have upgraded the Quad conversation to the apex level, which highlights their desire to step up international cooperation to address global challenges,’’ said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla after the summit.

Biden described a free and open Indo-Pacific as essential to the future of each of the countries and assured that the US “is committed to working with all our allies in the region to achieve stability”. Both India and the US, however, ensured the Quad would not be an openly hostile grouping against China.

The leaders pledged to fully implement the Paris Agreement on curbing carbon emissions and agree to set up working groups focusing on climate change as well as standards and norms for emerging technologies such as 5G networks.

The meeting was arranged shortly after the Biden administration said dealing with China is “the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century”.

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