Amid Russia-Ukraine crisis, Quad leaders to hold virtual meeting today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday join US President Joe Biden and prime ministers of Australia and Japan at a virtual meeting of Quad leaders which is taking place amid the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the leaders will exchange views and assessments about important developments in the Indo-Pacific.

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“Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate along with President of USA Joseph R Biden, Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison, and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida in a Quad Leaders’ virtual meeting on March 3,” it said in a statement The Quad leaders held an in-person summit in Washington in September last year.

“The leaders will have an opportunity to continue their dialogue after the September 2021 Summit in Washington DC. They will exchange views and assessments about important developments in the Indo-Pacific,” the MEA said.

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“The Quad leaders will also review ongoing efforts to implement the Leaders’ initiatives announced as part of the Quad’s contemporary and positive agenda,” it said.

In March last year, Biden hosted the first-ever summit of the Quad leaders in the virtual format that was followed by an in-person summit in Washington in September for which Prime Minister Modi had travelled to the US.

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The Quad has been focusing on cooperation in areas such as producing vaccines, connectivity projects, facilitating the mobility of students, and looking at promoting startups and technology collaboration.

The foreign ministers of the Quad grouping held extensive talks in Melbourne last month.

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The Quad has been focusing on cooperation in areas such as producing vaccines, connectivity projects, facilitating the mobility of students, and looking at promoting startups and technology collaboration.

The Quad vaccine partnership was announced in March last year with an aim to deliver 100 crore doses of vaccines to the Indo-Pacific region by the end of 2022.