Indo-Pacific in focus, ‘Quad’ meets in S’pore

New Delhi, November 15

India, Japan, Australia and the US on Thursday met for the third round of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue in Singapore. The dialogue held at the existing level of joint secretaries along the sidelines of the East Asia summit focused on areas of “cooperation in connectivity, sustainable development, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and maritime and cyber security” towards a rule-based, open and free Indo-Pacific.

Unlike after the June meeting, the Indian statement this time did not underline “common commitment” of the Quad members towards the shared goals highlighted by the other members in their respective statements as “shared commitments”.

The officials also exchanged views on the recent regional developments, including in Sri Lanka and Maldives, having been mentioned in the Australian, American and Japanese statements but given a miss by India in its read out. This as PM Modi will be in the Maldives this week to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Ibrahim Solih and India continues to take a cautionary wait-and-watch approach to internal political crisis in Sri Lanka.

“US officials underscored the importance of coordinated engagement to advance shared regional interests,” the US statement said. — TNS