New Quad plans joint projects in security, trade

Sandeep Dikshit

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 19

The Quad of Foreign Ministers of India, UAE, Israel and the US has decided to take forward their first-ever joint conversation on Monday evening with an in-person meeting in the coming months in Dubai.

The next meeting will consider possibilities for infrastructure projects in transportation, technology, maritime security and economics and trade, said the hosts, the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

“At the end of the conversation, it was decided that each minister will appoint senior-level professionals to a joint working group that will formulate options for cooperation in the aforementioned areas,” it said about the virtual meeting held between the four foreign ministers.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Israeli Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who were both in Israel virtually joined US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in the conference. The ministers also decided to establish an international forum for economic cooperation. “The key to success is how quickly we can move from ‘government-to-government’ to ‘business-to-business?” said Foreign Minister Lapid.