The Quad foreign ministers looked ahead to India's hosting of the Quad Leaders' Summit later this year. The summit gains extra significance as it is reportedly going to be one of Joe Biden's final overseas trips as President.
In a joint statement issued after their meeting in Tokyo on Monday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Ministers Penny Wong of Australia and Yoko Kamikawa of Japan endorsed the summit to be held in India later this year.
The summit, which is held on a rotating basis, had been postponed and is slated to be held in January as Biden could not attend it at that time. Last week, White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby said Biden would attend the rescheduled summit in India.
We remain committed to having a Quad leaders' summit this year, though it is not yet on the calendar, Kirby said.
The leaders to preside over the summit include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be joined by the visiting Prime Ministers of Australia, Anthony Albanese, and Japan, Fumio Kishida.
Notably, the trends spilled into the 2023 summit. Originally planned to hold in Australia, it was called off after Biden pulled out at the eleventh hour over domestic issues following negotiations on the government's borrowing limits. The summit would be moved again—this time to Hiroshima—for Australian Prime Minister Albanese to host it on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
This month, the already announced-not-to-run Biden was last in India for the G20 Summit hosted by PM Modi.
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