In May, Modi to attend G7 meet in Japan, Quad summit in Australia

NEW DELHI: After his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese confirmed on Wednesday that Australia will host the 2023 Quad summit in Sydney on May 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked him saying the meeting will bolster the efforts of member countries — Australia, India, Japan and the US — to ensure a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

“I look forward to my visit and discussions on strengthening Quad collaboration across domains to advance our positive agenda,” tweeted PM Modi in his response to the announcement by the Australian PM.

Modi will first visit Hiroshima in Japan from May 19 to 21 for the G7 summit, from where he will travel to Australia and also for the first time to Papua New Guinea in South Pacific. Albanese had officially invited Modi for the Quad summit when he visited India last month.

“The Quad is committed to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific that is respectful of sovereignty and ensures security and growth for all. I look forward to discussing with Quad Leaders how we – alongside important regional institutions, such as Asean, the Pacific Islands Forum, the Indian Ocean Rim Association and our regional partners — can shape the Indo-Pacific region we all want to live in,” said Albanese in a statement.

While Quad seeks to promote stability, resilience and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, Beijing and Moscow see the group as a US-led initiative to contain China. Australia, India, Japan and the United States share a vision for a region that is governed by accepted rules and norms, where we all can cooperate, trade and thrive. “We will be discussing the global economic environment that we know is under pressure due to global inflationary pressures,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra.

“We know that we live in a more insecure world with strategic competition in our region, with the ongoing impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he added.

Foreign minister S Jaishankar said earlier this week Quad had often been “dumbed down” to the China issue. “You cannot say the US, Japan, India and Australia exist, because there’s a China problem. Each one of them has their own identity, own interests, they see benefits in working together,” he said.