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Quad foreign ministers are likely to meet soon in Washington as India gears up to host the summit later this year. It’s learnt that discussions are underway to have the meeting of the informal strategic group involving Australia, India, Japan either in late June or early July, depending upon the availability of the ministers.The meeting of the foreign policy chiefs, if it happens, will lay the ground for the summit that will see US President Donald Trump, Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese travelling to India. With the US keen on hosting it, the meeting will again underscore the Trump administration’s unwavering commitment to the group Trump helped revive during his first term – and which has evolved rapidly to work towards a free, open, inclusive, prosperous and resilient Indo-Pacific – in the middle of Washington’s efforts to improve trade ties with China.The Trump administration’s diplomatic engagements in fact kicked off with a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers on January 21 this year, a day after the president was sworn in for the second time. Quad has remained ring-fenced from differences that partners have had with the US over trade and tariff issues and, in the case of India, the unease here over some of the claims made by the US about its role in the India-Pakistan military clash last month. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for external affairs minister S Jaishankar to review India-US cooperation with his counterpart Marco Rubio in a bilateral meeting, including the ongoing efforts for a bilateral trade agreement.While Russia and China continue to see Quad as an exercise in containment, India believes the grouping’s agenda is constructive and practical, focused as it is on infrastructure, debt sustainability, healthcare, critical and emerging technologies, UN reforms, climate change and humanitarian assistance. And that focus will remain unchanged even as India’s ties with China improve considerably.Counterterrorism is also an important focus area for Quad and a strong condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack can be expected from the meeting. In the past, Quad leaders have condemned the Mumbai and Pathankot terrorist attacks and also called upon all States to uphold international standards on anti-money laundering and combating terror-financing, in line with FATF recommendations.While the date for the Quad summit has not been finalized yet, it will probably take place within months of the scheduled meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders in China in late August or early September. PM Narendra Modi has neither accepted nor rejected the invitation for the SCO summit but it’s unlikely that the event will not see participation at any level by India as working concurrently with these groups allows it to amplify its strategic autonomy. In addition to that, India is also hoping to host Russian President Vladimir Putin for the annual summit this year.
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