Quad to meet: Foreign Ministers of India, US, Japan and Australia

News:The foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral group of India, US, Australia and Japan are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.

Facts:

About the Quad group:

• Quadrilateral Security Dialogue(QSD) is the strategic dialogue between four countries viz. India, United States, Japan and Australia.
• It was originally initiated in 2007 but later disbanded with withdrawal of Australia.It has later revived in 2017.
• The Quad is viewed as four democracies with a shared objective to ensure and support a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.
• The concept of quadrilateral cooperation is also linked to China’s emergence as a great power.The fear of China’s growing unilateralism drives major nations to strive to reduce the regional imbalance by banding together.

Significance for India:

• The Quad group provides India a powerful platform to advance its interests in East Asia.
• It will deepen India’s ties with the US, Australia and Japan with benefits in diplomatic leverage and sharing of burden in defense.
• It will also provide India significant chance in shaping US policies in Afghanistan-Pakistan to the benefit of India.
• It will provide a powerful platform to advance Indian interest in region and strengthen Act East policy.
• It will also help India and other three Nations to counter China’s One Belt One Road(OBOR) initiative.As India has refused to join OBOR it helps India to connect with other markets like Central Asian and South East Asian markets.