U.S. President Joe Biden, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrive for a Cancer Moonshot announcement at the Quad leaders summit in Claymont, Delaware, U.S. on September 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The leaders of the Quad group of countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met at their sixth summit level meeting at Archmere Academy, Mr Biden’s former school in Claymont, Delaware, to announce a broad range of outcomes. These included the launch of a new coast guard exercise, a logistics network, expansion of maritime surveillance, and a project to combat cervical cancer.

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In terms of positions, the Quad strongly condemned aggression in the East and South China Sea and expressed alarm over the war in Ukraine, noting that all four leaders had visited the country.

The ‘Quad Cancer Moonshot’ will involve contributions from all four countries to combat cervical cancer. India will commit $ 10 million towards screening for the disease. Vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India and Gavi will provide up to 40 million vaccines for the region, “subject to approvals”.  

The countries announced the Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission in 2025, to improve interoperability and maritime safety. Future coast guard missions are planned for after 2025. A logistics network pilot project was also launched, which will involve Quad countries sharing airlift capacity to support disaster response across the region.

A Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI), to train Quad partners “to monitor and secure their waters, enforce their laws, and deter unlawful behaviour” was also announced. India will host the first MAITRI workshop in 2025.

Significantly, a maritime legal dialogue has been launched to support actions to uphold the rules-based order, the joint statement said.

Quad members condemned maritime aggression, with pointed references to situations involving China, which is currently embroiled in tensions with the Philippines, most recently over the latter’s coast guard presence on the Sabina shoal, 150 kms off its west coast.

“We are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas,” the countries said, as they expressed concern about the militarisation of disputed features and coercion and intimidation in the South China Sea.

The statement condemns the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, and opposes the disruption of other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities.

While there was no direct mention of Russia, presumably out of consideration for India, which shares a close relationship with Moscow, the joint statement had references that have been associated with  a condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, such as Quad countries offering their “unwavering” support for the United Nations Charter. The countries expressed their “deepest concern” for the war in Ukraine and its consequences.

“Each of us has visited Ukraine since the war began, and seen this first-hand; we reiterate the need for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in line with international law, consistent with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the statement says. It also notes the impact the war has had on food and energy security, especially for developing countries.

The Quad fellowship, to promote STEM education, has been expanded to include 50 scholarships worth $ 500,000 for students from the region to study at government-funded technical institutions in India.

U.S. President Joe Biden bids farewell to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he departs after the Quad leaders summit in Claymont, Delaware, U.S., September 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The U.S. and India plan to elevate bilateral technical, financial, and policy support to expand complementary manufacturing capacity for building on existing clean energy cooperation between the two nations, according to the White House.

The announcement on Saturday (September 21, 2024) came after the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden at Greenville, Delaware.

Prime Minister Modi is in the U.S. on a three-day visit.

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To launch the partnership for establishing a “shared, resilient, and cutting-edge techno-industrial base” centred on innovative clean energy manufacturing techniques, the U.S. and India are “working to unlock $1 billion in new multilateral finance through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) for projects, including catalysing India’s domestic clean energy supply chain buildout”, the White House said in a statement.

The partnership will look to expand complementary U.S. and Indian manufacturing capacity for clean energy technologies and components and lay the groundwork for enhanced cooperation in third countries, with a focus on partnerships in Africa.

This effort will build on existing clean energy cooperation between the U.S. and India, including clean energy initiatives launched during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the U.S. in 2023, and the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership led by the U.S. Department of Energy and Government of India ministries, among other initiatives.

The U.S.-India partnership “sets a strong example for the world and positions our countries to lead clean economic development in the 21st century,” the statement said.

“The United States and India share an enduring commitment to deepen our collaboration on issues of shared national and economic security. As an important aspect of our economic growth agendas, we are committed to working together to capture the benefits of the clean energy transition, including the creation of high-quality jobs for our populations, acceleration of clean energy deployment globally, and achievement of global climate goals,” it said.

Also Read | Our message is clear, Quad is here to stay: PM Modi at Leaders’ Summit

“Over time, we seek to mobilise additional financing into priority clean energy manufacturing sectors that harness public and private financial tools and pioneer innovative financial vehicles to meet the rapid demand for flexible climate finance solutions,” said the White House.

Noting that the United States and India intend to work with relevant government agencies, civil society and the private sector to identify a package of pilot projects across the clean energy value chain, it said that the two nations also pledge to work with industry leaders on the following lines of effort to launch and eventually scale this new partnership.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with USA President Joe Biden, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida during the Quad Leaders’ Summit, in Hiroshima. File photo
| Photo Credit: PTI

India and the United States have “swapped” hosting the Quad Summit so as to allow U.S. President Joseph Biden to hold the Summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida from his hometown of Delaware, said sources, confirming that the summit will be held later this month in the United States rather than India. 

India would host the Quad Summit in 2025, they said, which indicated the new U.S. President, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris would visit India next year.

The summit, which will be held on September 21, as The Hindu reported on Saturday (September 7, 2024), and will take place in Mr. Bidens homestate of Delaware.

On the September 22, PM Modi will address a diaspora meet at the Nassau Coliseum in New York’s Long Island entitled “Modi & U.S. Progress Together” and will attend  the “Summit of the Future” at the United Nations on September 22-23. Meanwhile, possibly given that Mr. Modi will travel to the US earlier than scheduled, he will not stay on to deliver the address to the UN General Assembly, as announced before, on September 26. According to a revised provisional list of speakers issued by the UN, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will address the General Debate on September 28th. 

According to official sources said the Quad summit swap was decided after a meeting of the Quad ‘sous sherpas’, the officials negotiating the logistics for the Quad Summit earlier this month and finalized after conversations between Prime Minister Modi and the US and Australian leaders. While originally, India had planned to host the Summit in New York on the side-lines of the UN meetings, the US has now decided to organize the event, that will fall on a Saturday. Mr. Biden travels from Washington to his vacation home at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware on the weekends. 

“Once it became clear that this year’s Quad Summit would take place in the United States around the UN General Assembly, Quad partners consulted and agreed that the U.S. and India would swap host years,” a source aware of the negotiations told The Hindu.

“This enables President Biden to host the Summit in his final year as President, and India to host in 2025, providing an opportunity for PM Modi to host Quad Leaders in India next year,” the source added.

Explained | What’s the 4-nation Quad, where did it come from?

As The Hindu reported on Saturday, confusion over the Quad Summit, that is held annually, and is meant to rotate between the Australia, India, Japan and the US as venues, has intensified over the last few months, as Indian officials attempted to coordinate schedules amidst elections in India, the US, and ruling party elections in Japan. In addition, the political commitments of Mr. Modi, Mr. Biden, Mr. Kishida and Mr. Albanese have grown more fraught owing to the US President and Japanese PM deciding not to contest for the next term, and the Quad Summit now finalised will be seen more as a “farewell” for the two leaders.