Quad FMs likely to meet at Trump’s swearing-in

Foreign Ministers of the four Quad countries — India, Australia, Japan and United States — will be in Washington DC around the time US President-elect Donald Trump takes over on January 20.

A ministerial meeting is likely, but so far, there is no confirmation if it would be like a ‘Quad’ meeting as Trump administration’s Secretary of State-elect Marco Rubio may not be confirmed by the Senate by then. In case he is not confirmed as Secretary of State, he can still participate in a meeting with the other three Foreign Ministers, but then, he would be just a Senator and Secretary of State-elect.

Today, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, speaking at an event in Bengaluru, made it clear that he would be looking forward to meeting Rubio.

Earlier this week, India had announced that Jaishankar would be attending the event in Washington DC at the invitation from the Trump-Vance inaugural committee.

In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong issued a statement that she too would be participating in the ceremony at Washington DC as a “demonstration of the steadfast alliance between Australia and the United States”. On January 12, Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi revealed on a programme on Japanese news outlet NHK that he would attend the inauguration ceremony of the Trump administration on January 20.

While other foreign leaders have also been invited, the presence of the Foreign Ministers of all the Quad countries at the same event will make it likely that they will be meeting as a group too.