India, Israel, UAE and U.S. launch quad forum

What is the news?

Recently, the first meeting of the foreign ministers of the US, India, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took place virtually. After the meeting, India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have decided to launch a new quadrilateral economic forum.

Note: Indian foreign minister has been on a five-day visit to Israel. He and the Israeli counterpart joined the meeting from Jerusalem.

About the new quadrilateral economic forum

The quadrilateral builds on ongoing cooperation between the U.S., Israel and the UAE after the Abraham Accords and India. The forum is described as an international forum for economic cooperation.

Aim: The aim of the new quadrilateral grouping is to establish an international forum for economic cooperation. The grouping will specifically look for the “possibilities for joint infrastructure projects” in transportation and technology.

Focus areas: The new quadrilateral grouping will “expand the economic and political cooperation in the Middle East and Asia, including through trade, combating climate change, technology cooperation including Big Data, energy cooperation, and increasing maritime security.”

The Quad will also focus on global public health and ways to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

Future of the new Quad: Each country will appoint a senior professional to a joint working group. This joint working group will formulate options for cooperation in the focus areas identified by the new Quad.

Apart from that, the four ministers also decided to convene an in-person meeting in Dubai soon.

During the meeting, they also agreed that the key to the success of the new quad depends upon how quickly the forum can move from ‘government-to-government’ to ‘business-to-business.

What are the advantages of the new quadrilateral economic forum?

The four countries have a “unique set of capabilities, knowledge, and experience” that can be used to create a new network of cooperation.

The countries also recognised that there are many overlapping interests between them. Especially in the field of energy, climate, trade, regional security. So, the new Quad format will help these countries to develop these areas further.

Other key discussions of the meeting

The meeting focused on the shared issues of concern in the region. The four countries also “discussed expanding economic and political cooperation in the Middle East (West Asia) and Asia. The countries also agreed to launch talks for a free trade agreement.

The recent development of India, the UAE and Israel cooperation

India, the UAE and Israel have also been in talks for trilateral cooperation since diplomatic ties were established through Abraham Accords last year.

Business groups in India, the UAE and Israel have also been in talks for trilateral cooperation since diplomatic ties were established.

The International Federation of Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce (IFIIC) has predicted that the potential for agreements backed by Israeli innovation, UAE funding and Indian manufacturing could cross $100 billion by 2030.

In the first such venture, a UAE project for robotic solar panel cleaning technology was signed by Israeli company Ecoppia that has a manufacturing base in India.

Terms to know:

• Abrahamic accord

Source: This post is based on the following articles

• “India, Israel, UAE and U.S. launch quad forum” published in The Hindu on 20th October 2021.
• “‘New Quad’ lists areas of co-operation” published in Livemint on 20th October 2021.
• “The other Quad: On virtual meet of Foreign Ministers of India, US, Israel and UAE” published in The Hindu on 20th October 2021.
• “New Quad takes shape with focus on tech, trade, big data” published in Times of India on 20th October 2021.