Vaccines, 5G deployment, cyber-security and Maritime issues discussed
Report by Gurpreet Kaur
Washington D.C., Sep 27: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morris, and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga met at the White House for the Quad Summit on 24th September 2021. The Quad is an informal security and strategic dialogue and stands for Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. Australia, Japan, India, and the United States are the four members of the Quad. It was created in 2007. It is an informal conversation because it’s without a secretariat or a permanent decision- making body like the UN (United Nations) or rules for combined defence pacts like NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Instead, it concentrates on strengthening existing agreements and conducting cooperative military exercises.
The following were the key decisions taken-
1. Vaccines – India will export 8 million Covid19 vaccines by end of October and a billion vaccine doses by the end of 2022.
2. Semi-conductors supply chain – Quad paved way to start a programme to map capacity, identify weaknesses, and strengthen supply-chain security for semiconductors and their key components in the semiconductor industry.
3. 5G – Quad also made the decision to promote the deployment of safe, open, and transparent 5G and beyond- 5G networks.
4. Maritime issue – Quad focused on maritime security to achieve free and open Indo-Pacific.
5. Illegal fishing
6. Fellowship programme- Quad will make provision to allow 100 students from India, Japan, Australia, and the United States (25 from each country) to study science and technology-related disciplines at premier institutions in the United States during the next year and a half.
Image Source: Twitter@PMOIndia