Quad signs Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief Guidelines; India calls it timely move
Union Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, who is on a 10-day official visit to the US, gave the information about it while tering hte HADR "extremely timely".
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New York, September 24: In a major development, Foreign Ministers of the Quad group of countries – India, the U.S., Australia, and Japan met on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and signed the Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief Guidelines.
Union Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, who is on a 10-day official visit to the US, gave the information about it while terming the HADR as extremely timely.The HADR partnership was announced by Quad Leaders in Tokyo on 24 May 2022, as part of a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient.
"Given the turbulent times, it's important that Quad goes further in constructive agenda that we've set for ourselves that we work together on the delivery of public goods, that our efforts and particularly what we're signing today the HADR partnership which we discussed and finalised in Tokyo is extremely timely," Jaishankar said in his opening remarks.
The minister also mentioned other initiatives in the pipeline like STEM fellowship.
"We're working on economic framework though we've other partners beyond Quad on it, on maritime domain awareness. Great idea to meet regularly on the sidelines of the UNGA in our respective countries too," he added.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the meeting is evidence that the Quad is getting stronger. “Strengthening our multilateral cooperation. I think our countries know very well that the significant challenges that we face as well as the opportunities that are before us demand more than ever that we work together,” he said.
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Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong took a veiled dig at China over the country trying to dominate the Indo-Pacific. She said, "No one in this room wants to see a region where countries are not able to make their sovereign choices, where any one country or any one perspective dominates."
She firmly asserted that the Indo-Pacific region is being reshaped economically and strategically. "We want to represent countries to navigate this period of change together. So this is the heart of the Quad," Wong noted.
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