Source: Government of India (2)
Posted On: 22 SEP 2024 8:58AM by PIB Delhi
On September 21, 2024, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. hosted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India in Wilmington, Delaware, for the fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit.
The Quad was established to be a global force for good. This year, the Quad is proudly executing tangible projects that benefit partner countries across the Indo-Pacific—including in the Pacific, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean Region. The Quad is working together at unprecedented scope and scale to deliver on Indo-Pacific partners’ priorities. Together, the Quad is leading ambitious projects to help partners address pandemics and disease; respond to natural disasters; strengthen their maritime domain awareness and maritime security; mobilize and build high-standard physical and digital infrastructure; invest in and benefit from critical and emerging technologies; confront the threat of climate change; bolster cyber security; and cultivate the next generation of technology leaders.
ENDURING PARTNERS FOR THE INDO-PACIFIC
Over the past four years, Quad Leaders have met six times, including twice virtually. Quad Foreign Ministers have met eight times, most recently in Tokyo in July. Quad country representatives convene on a regular basis, at all levels, to consult one another, exchange ideas to advance shared priorities, and deliver benefits for partners across the Indo-Pacific region. All Quad governments have institutionalized the Quad at all levels and across a diverse array of departments and agencies. Today, Quad Leaders announced new initiatives to solidify these habits of cooperation and to set up the Quad to endure for the long-term.
Each Quad government has committed to work through their respective budgetary processes to secure robust funding for Quad priorities in the Indo-Pacific region to ensure an enduring impact.
The Quad governments also intend to work with their respective legislatures to deepen interparliamentary exchanges, and encourage other stakeholders to deepen engagement with Quad counterparts. Yesterday, Members of Congress announced the creation of a bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Quad Caucus.
In the coming months, Quad Commerce and Industry ministers will meet for the first time.
Quad Leaders also welcome the leaders of the Quad Development Finance Institutions and Agencies deciding to meet to explore future investments by the four countries in the Indo-Pacific, including in health security, food security, clean energy, and quality infrastructure. This builds on a previous meeting in 2022 between the heads of the Export Finance Australia, the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific, India Export-Import Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
The United States will host the 2025 Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting, and India will host the 2025 Quad Leaders Summit.
GLOBAL HEALTH & HEALTH SECURITY
In 2023, the Quad announced the Quad Health Security Partnership to strengthen coordination and collaboration in support of health security in the Indo-Pacific. The Quad Health Security Partnership is delivering on its commitments to strengthen the Indo-Pacific’s ability to detect and respond to outbreaks of diseases with epidemic or pandemic potential, including through a set of new initiatives announced today.
Quad Cancer Moonshot
The Quad is launching the historic Quad Cancer Moonshot, a collective effort to leverage public and private resources to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer in the Indo-Pacific, with an initial focus on cervical cancer. Altogether, the Quad Cancer Moonshot announced today is projected to save hundreds of thousands of lives over the coming decades. More information can be found here.
Pandemic Preparedness
Quad countries are committed to supporting health security and resiliency efforts across the region, including continued support for the Pandemic Fund.
The Quad reaffirms commitment to bolstering health security across the Indo-Pacific region. In 2024, the Quad Health Security Partnership advanced regional resilience through the second pandemic preparedness table top exercise, building on the success of the Quad Vaccine Partnership to enhance prevention, early detection, and response to potential disease outbreaks, and is exploring developing Standard Operating Procedures for Pandemic Response. The Quad’s collaborative efforts included training health specialists from the Indo-Pacific to strengthen regional capabilities for health emergencies.
India will host a workshop on pandemic preparedness and release a white paper outlining emergency public health responses.
Australia is increasing the pool of public health specialists who are ready to deploy, in-country or in the region, in response to disease outbreaks, with the first training session to commence in Darwin, Australia, in the coming days.
In coordination with Quad partners, the United States is pledging over $84.5 million to partner with fourteen countries in the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats.
Mpox
In response to the current clade I mpox outbreak, as well as the ongoing clade II mpox outbreak, the Quad plans to coordinate our efforts to promote equitable access to safe, effective, quality-assured mpox vaccines, including where appropriate expanding vaccine manufacturing in low and middle-income countries.
HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND DISASTER RELIEF (HADR)
Twenty years ago, the Quad first came together to respond to the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, surging humanitarian assistance to affected countries. In 2022, Quad Foreign Ministers signed the Guidelines for the Quad Partnership on HADR in the Indo-Pacific. In May 2024, following a tragic landslide in Papua New Guinea, Quad countries coordinated their response in accordance with these guidelines. The Quad collectively provided over $5 million in humanitarian assistance. Quad partners continue to support Papua New Guinea in its longer-term resiliency efforts. The Quad continues to deepen HADR coordination and support partners in the region in their longer-term resiliency efforts.
Quad governments are working to ensure readiness to rapidly respond, including through pre-positioning of essential relief supplies, in the event of a natural disaster; this effort extends from the Indian Ocean region, to Southeast Asia, to the Pacific.
In the coming months, Quad HADR experts will conduct a tabletop exercise to prepare for potential future disasters in the region.
Quad partners are working together to provide over $4 million in humanitarian assistance to support the people of Vietnam in light of the devastating consequences of Typhoon Yagi.
MARITIME SECURITY
Quad partners are working side-by-side with partners throughout the region to bolster maritime security, improve maritime domain awareness, and uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness and Maritime Training
Quad Leaders launched the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) at the 2022 Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo. This initiative provides partners with near-real-time, cost-effective, cutting-edge radio frequency data, enabling them to better monitor their waters; counter illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; respond to climate change and natural disasters; and enforce their laws within their waters.
Since the announcement, in consultation with partners, the Quad has successfully scaled the program across the Indo-Pacific region—through the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, with partners in Southeast Asia, to the Information Fusion Center—Indian Ocean Region, Gurugram. In doing so, the Quad has helped well over two dozen countries access dark vessel maritime domain awareness data, so they can better monitor the activities in their exclusive economic zones—including unlawful activity.
In the next phase of implementation, announced today, the Quad intends to layer new technology and data into IPMDA over the coming year, to continue to deliver cutting edge capability and information to the region. The Quad intends to leverage electro-optical data and advanced analytic software to sharpen the maritime domain awareness picture for partners.
Today the Quad announced a new regional Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI) to enable our partners in the region Indo-Pacific partners to maximize tools provided through IPMDA and other Quad partner initiatives, to monitor and secure their waters, enforce their laws, and deter unlawful behavior. The Quad countries look forward to India hosting the inaugural MAITRI workshop in 2025.
Quad countries are coordinating comprehensive and complementary training across the full suite of legal, operational, and technical maritime security and law enforcement knowledge domains. Quad partners have pledged to expand engagement with regional maritime law enforcement fora, share best practices, and improve civil maritime cooperation.
Indo-Pacific Logistics Network
The Quad launches today a Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network pilot project, to pursue shared airlift capacity among the four nations and leverage collective logistics strengths, in order to support civilian response to natural disasters more rapidly and efficiently across the Indo-Pacific region. This effort will complement existing efforts with Indo-Pacific partners.
Coast Guard Cooperation
The U.S. Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard, Australian Border Force, and Indian Coast Guard plan to launch a first-ever Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission in 2025 in the Indo-Pacific to improve interoperability. Through this effort, members of Japan Coast Guard, Australian Border Force, and Indian Coast Guard will spend time on board a U.S. Coast Guard vessel operating in the Indo-Pacific. The Quad intends to continue with further missions in the Indo-Pacific.
QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE
The Quad is delivering quality, resilient infrastructure to the region to increase connectivity, build regional capacity, and meet critical needs.
This year, the Quad countries’ export credit agencies (ECAs) signed and are implementing a Memorandum of Cooperation, which supports supply chain resilience, critical and emerging technologies, renewable energy, and other high-quality projects in the Indo-Pacific. Quad ECAs are strengthening communication on pipeline information and provision of relevant financing for projects in the Indo-Pacific region, and will pursue joint business promotion efforts that involve industry experts, project developers, and other major market players.
The Quad released joint Principles for Development and Deployment of Digital Public Infrastructure, underscoring the Quad’s commitment to an inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe, reliable, and secure digital future to advance shared prosperity and sustainable development.
The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure organized a workshop in India to empower partners across the Indo-Pacific to strengthen power sector resilience.
Quad Ports of the Future Partnership
The Quad Ports of the Future Partnership will harness the Quad’s expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific, in collaboration with regional partners.
In 2025, Quad partners intend to hold the inaugural Regional Ports and Transportation Conference, hosted by India in Mumbai.
Through this new partnership, Quad partners intend to coordinate, exchange information, share best practices with partners in the region, and leverage resources to mobilize government and private sector investments in quality port infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific region.
Quad Infrastructure Fellows
The Quad Infrastructure Fellowship was announced at the 2023 Quad Leaders’ Summit to improve capacity and deepen professional networks across the region to design, manage, and attract investment in infrastructure projects. Over the past year, it has expanded to more than 2,200 experts, and Quad partners have already provided well over 1,300 fellowships.
Undersea Cables and Digital Connectivity
Through the Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience, Quad partners continue to support and strengthen quality undersea cable networks in the Indo-Pacific, the capacity, durability, and reliability of which are inextricably linked to the security and prosperity of the region and the world.
In support of these efforts, Australia launched the Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre in July, which is delivering workshops and policy and regulatory assistance in response to requests from across the region.
Japan has conducted capacity building trainings to enhance connectivity and resilience in the Indo-Pacific through cooperation with specialized agencies and international organizations. Japan intends to further extend technical cooperation to improve public information and communication technology infrastructure management capacity for an undersea cable in Nauru and Kiribati.
The United States has conducted over 1,300 capacity building trainings for telecommunication officials and executives from 25 countries in the Indo-Pacific; today the U.S. announces its intent, working with Congress, to invest an additional $3.4 million to extend and expand this training program.
Investments in cable projects by Quad partners will help support all Pacific island countries in achieving primary telecommunication cable connectivity by the end of 2025. Since the last Quad Leaders’ Summit, Quad partners have committed over $140 million to undersea cable builds in the Pacific, alongside contributions from other likeminded partners.
Complementing these investments in new undersea cables, India has commissioned a feasibility study to examine expansion of undersea cable maintenance and repair capabilities in the Indo-Pacific.
CRITICAL AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
The Quad is working in lockstep to stay at the forefront of technology innovation, and remains committed to harnessing emerging technologies for the benefit of people across the Indo-Pacific, and deploying these technologies to facilitate economic prosperity, openness, and connectivity.
Open Radio Access Network (RAN) and 5G
In 2023, Quad partners announced the first-ever Open RAN deployment in the Pacific, in Palau, to support a secure, resilient, and interconnected telecommunications ecosystem. Since then, the Quad has committed approximately $20 million to this effort. Building on this initiative, the Quad announces an expansion of Open RAN collaboration to deliver trusted technology solutions.
The Quad plans to expand support for ongoing Open RAN field trials and the Asia Open RAN Academy (AORA) in the Philippines, building on the initial $8 million in support that the United States and Japan pledged earlier this year.
In addition, the United States plans to invest over $7 million to support the global expansion of AORA, including through establishing a first-of-its-kind Open RAN workforce training initiative at scale in South Asia, in partnership with Indian institutions.
Quad partners also welcome the opportunity to explore additional Open RAN projects in Southeast Asia.
Quad partners will also explore collaborating with the Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation to ensure the country’s readiness for nationwide 5G deployment.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Through the Advancing Innovations for Empowering NextGen Agriculture (AI-ENGAGE) initiative announced at the 2023 Quad Leaders’ Summit, Quad governments are deepening leading-edge collaborative research to harness artificial intelligence, robotics, and sensing, to transform agricultural approaches and empower farmers across the Indo-Pacific. The Quad announces an inaugural $7.5+ million in funding opportunities for joint research, and highlights the recent signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation among the four countries’ science agencies to connect research communities and advance shared research principles.
The Quad recognizes the importance of advancing international efforts to achieve safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems, including through the outcomes of the Hiroshima AI Process, GPAI New Delhi Ministerial Declaration 2023, and UN General Assembly resolution 78/625 on “Seizing the opportunities of safe, secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems for sustainable development.” The Quad seeks to further deepen international cooperation on artificial intelligence systems and interoperability among artificial intelligence governance frameworks.
Quad countries, through the Standards Sub-Group, launched two Track 1.5 dialogues on AI and Advanced Communications Technologies to promote international standardization cooperation, including frameworks for AI conformity assessment.
Biotechnology
The Quad partners look forward to launching the BioExplore Initiative – a joint effort supported by an initial $2 million in funding to use AI technology to study and analyze biological ecosystems across all four countries. This initiative will help advance our ability to discover and use the diverse capabilities found in living organisms to yield new products and innovations with the potential to diagnose and treat disease, develop resilient crops, generate clean energy, and much more. The initiative will also aim to build technological capacity across the Quad nations.
This project will also be underpinned by the forthcoming Quad Principles for Research and Development Collaborations in Critical and Emerging Technologies, which advances sustainable, responsible, safe and secure collaborations in biotechnologies and other critical technologies among the Quad and across the region.
Semiconductors
Quad Leaders welcome the finalization of a Memorandum of Cooperation for the Semiconductor Supply Chains Contingency Network to facilitate collaboration in addressing semiconductor supply chain risks.
The Quad Investors Network
The Quad Investors Network (QUIN) is a nonprofit initiative launched at the 2023 Quad Leaders’ Summit. The QUIN aims to accelerate investments in critical and emerging technologies across the Indo-Pacific region, bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, technologists, and public institutions from the Quad countries to support innovation that aligns with the Quad’s shared values and promotes economic growth, resilience, and regional stability. This year, the QUIN supported ten major strategic investments and partnerships across the Quad in the critical minerals, renewable energy, cybersecurity, and aerospace sectors.
The QUIN has advanced additional frameworks to foster the development of new technologies and facilitate investment partnerships for emerging startups, including through finalizing a Memorandum of Understanding for the creation of a startup campus in Tokyo, supported by the QUIN and the Chiba Institute of Technology’s Center for Radical Transformation.
The QUIN is also working to establish a new venture accelerator in Tokyo through a collaboration between the University of Tokyo, Northeastern University, and the QUIN. These collaborations will not only fuel technological advancements but also strengthen the economic ties among the Quad nations, contributing to a more integrated and resilient Indo-Pacific region.
Finally, the QUIN developed a Quantum Center of Excellence, which produced a report this year highlighting ways each Quad country’s Quantum ecosystems can work together to collectively leverage capital and expertise.
CLIMATE AND CLEAN ENERGY
The Quad recognizes the existential threat climate change poses to the world, the Indo-Pacific, and in particular island nations in the Pacific and in the Indian Ocean region, and is taking ambitious steps to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change, promote clean energy innovation and adoption, and support sustainable development.
Climate Adaptation
The Quad intends to expand its Early Warning Systems and the Climate Information Services Initiative (CIS), announced at the 2023 Leaders’ Summit. This will help improve Pacific Island countries’ access to high-quality climate data and services, and increase partners’ capacity to prepare for and respond to climate change and its impacts.
The United States plans to provide 3D-printed automatic weather stations to the Pacific in 2025 to support local weather and climate forecasts, and also train experts in Fiji with the goal of operating a regional center to develop and deploy this technology.
Australia is also strengthening Early Warning Systems through Weather Ready Pacific, a Pacific-led initiative supported by the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in 2021 that drives and delivers on the EWS4ALL UN initiative in the Pacific.
Japan is also enhancing cooperation with Pacific Island countries under its “Pacific Climate Resilience Initiative”, inter alia, by strengthening disaster risk reduction and preparedness through satellite technology and by promoting clean energy through capacity building and installation of renewable energies.
The Quad also plans to train experts in Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu to better monitor and forecast flash floods, for timely and accurate warnings, reducing human and economic losses from flash floods.
Clean Energy
Our countries intend to strengthen our cooperation to align policies, incentives, standards, and investments around creating high-quality, diversified clean energy supply chains that will enhance our collective energy security, create new economic opportunities across the region, and benefit local workers and communities around the world, particularly across the Indo-Pacific. We will work together, through policy and public finance, to operationalize our commitment to catalyzing complementary and high-standard private sector investment in allied and partner clean energy supply chains. We note the uniquely complementary capabilities Quad partners share across the battery supply chain, and pledge to focus near-term efforts on strengthening mineral production, recycling, and battery manufacturing across our respective industries.
Quad Leaders announced a Quad Clean Energy Supply Chain Diversification Program last year, which aims to support the development of secure and diversified clean energy supply chains in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia will open applications for the Quad Clean Energy Supply Chains Diversification Program in November, providing AUD 50 million to support projects that develop and diversify solar panel, hydrogen electrolyzer and battery supply chains. Secure and diversified clean energy supply chains are an integral part of achieving the Indo-Pacific’s collective energy security, emissions reduction goals and transition to a net zero future.
India commits to invest $2 million in new solar projects in Fiji, Comoros, Madagascar, and Seychelles.
Japan has committed to $122 million grants and loans, both public and private, in renewable energy projects in the Indo-Pacific.
The United States, through the DFC, has extended a $250 million loan to Tata Power Solar to construct a solar cell manufacturing facility and a $500 million loan to First Solar to construct and operate a solar module manufacturing facility in India, and continues to seek opportunities to mobilize private capital to solar, as well as wind, cooling, batteries, and critical minerals to expand capacity and diversify supply chains.
The Quad announces an initiative to boost energy efficiency, including the deployment and manufacturing of affordable, high-efficiency, cooling systems, to enable climate-vulnerable communities to adapt to rising temperatures while simultaneously reducing strain on the electricity grid. The United States intends to invest an initial $1.25 million of technical assistance financing to this effort.
CYBER SECURITY
The Quad is working together to build a more resilient, secure, and complementary cyber security environment for Quad countries and partners.
The Quad has [developed/released] the Quad Action Plan to Protect Commercial Undersea Telecommunications Cables, to advance the Quad’s shared vision for future digital connectivity, global commerce, and prosperity.
Quad countries are also partnering with software manufacturers, industry trade groups, and research centers to expand the Quad’s commitment to pursuing secure software development standards and certification, as endorsed in the Quad’s 2023 Secure Software Joint Principles.
Quad partners will work to harmonize these standards to not only ensure that the development, procurement, and end-use of software for government networks is more secure, but that the cyber resilience of our supply chains, digital economies, and societies are collectively improved.
Throughout this fall, each Quad country plans to host events to mark the annual Quad Cyber Challenge promoting responsible cyber ecosystems, public resources, and cybersecurity awareness. This year’s Cyber Challenge campaigns will focus on establishing career pathway programs to increase the number and diversity of global cybersecurity professionals, including increased participation by women, in this rapidly growing field. Last year’s Quad Cyber Challenge included over 85,000 participants across the Indo-Pacific region.
Capacity building projects like the Quad Cyber Bootcamp and the international conference on cyber capacity building in the Philippines are important initiatives to enhance cybersecurity and workforce development in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Quad is undertaking joint efforts to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities to national security and protection of critical infrastructure networks, and coordinate more closely including on policy responses to sharing of cyber threat information on significant cybersecurity incidents affecting shared priorities.
COUNTERING DISINFORMATION
The Quad is working together to foster a resilient information environment, including through its Countering Disinformation Working Group, by supporting media freedom and addressing foreign information manipulation and interference, including disinformation, which undermines trust and sows discord in the international community.
PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE TIES
Quad countries are building enduring ties between their peoples. Stakeholders from Quad countries have participated in International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and other exchanges, on topics related to cyber security, workforce development for critical and emerging technologies, women in STEM, government transparency and accountability, combating disinformation, and regional maritime governance.
The Quad Fellowship
Together with the Institute of International Education, which leads implementation of the Quad Fellowship, Quad governments welcome the second cohort of Quad Fellows and the expansion of the program to include students from ASEAN countries for the first time. The Government of Japan is supporting the program to enable Quad Fellows to study in Japan. The Quad welcomes the generous support of private sector partners for the next cohort of fellows, including Google, the Pratt Foundation, and Western Digital.
The Quad looks forward to the Quad Fellowship Summit in Washington, DC, in October, organized by the Institute of International Education.
Additional People-to-People Initiatives
India announces a new initiative to award fifty Quad scholarships, worth $500,000, to students from the Indo-Pacific to pursue a 4-year undergraduate engineering program at a Government of India-funded technical institution.
SPACE
The Quad recognizes the essential contribution of space-related applications and technologies in the Indo-Pacific. The four countries plan to continue delivering Earth Observation data and other space-related applications to assist nations across the Indo-Pacific to strengthen climate early warning systems and better manage the impacts of extreme weather events.
The Quad welcomes India’s establishment of a space-based web portal for Mauritius to support the concept of open science for space-based monitoring of extreme weather events and climate impact.
Space Situational Awareness Initiative
Quad partners intend to share expertise and experience in space situational awareness (SSA), contributing to long-term sustainability of the space environment. Cooperation is intended to leverage SSA and space traffic coordination capabilities in the civil domain, including to help avoid collisions in outer space and manage debris.
COUNTERING TERRORISM
The Quad hosted its first Counter Terrorism Working Group (CTWG) in 2023 and will meet annually to discuss CT threats, Quad CT good practices, and ways the Quad can work together to mitigate acts of terrorism through information sharing, consequence management and strategic messaging. The Quad CTWG currently focuses on countering the use of unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear devices (CBRN), and the internet for terrorist purposes. The Quad CTWG discusses new CT lines of effort on which to collaborate, hosts technical workshops for establishing CT good practices, and explores ways to engage non-Quad members with Quad-established CT expertise.
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