In advance of the summit India is hosting this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will travel to Washington next week to attend a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers, the State Department said.
Principal Deputy Spokesperson Thomas Pigott announced Thursday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host the meeting, which will feature Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi, next Tuesday in Washington.
He pointed out that the Quad foreign ministers conference, which was held the day after President Donald Trump was sworn in, was Rubio’s first international engagement following his inauguration on January 21.
Pigott stated that the gathering next week “builds on that momentum to advance a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific.”
“Strength, peace, and prosperity are the hallmarks of American leadership,” he declared.
Jaishankar wrote on X that he spoke with Wong over the phone on Thursday in order to be ready for the Quad summit.
The ministers will meet for the first time after the Pahalgam attack at the Quad conference.
Jaishankar will open an exhibition at the United Nations on “The Human Cost of Terrorism” on Monday before departing for Washington.
It will “highlight the devastating toll of heinous terrorist acts around the world,” according to India’s UN mission.
It will occur one day prior to Pakistan assuming the Security Council’s rotational presidency.
The Quad meeting next week is anticipated to set the stage for the summit that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host, which will bring US President Donald Trump to India along with Prime Ministers Shigeru Ishiba of Japan and Anthony Albanese of Australia.
PM Modi expressed his excitement about hosting Trump at the summit during their February meeting.
As China’s threat loomed, the first foreign affairs meeting following Trump’s inauguration demonstrated his administration’s regional priorities.
But the focus of the world shifted to Ukraine and the Middle East.
For the time being, the Israeli-Iranian crisis seems to have subsided, which has allowed some time to focus on the Indo-Pacific, where China presents a threat to the countries in the region.
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