Thank You Marise.
Dear Colleagues and our teams, it’s a great pleasure to visit Australia for the 4th Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. And I am also very appreciative of the fact that this is an opportunity for us to do our bilateral meetings as well. My sincere appreciation, Marise, to the government of Australia for hosting us in this lovely city of Melbourne, it’s my first time here, and for the warmth of your hospitality.
Since our last interaction in February of 2021, the geopolitical and geo-economic global scenario has become more complex. As leading democracies, we pursue our shared vision of upholding a rules-based international order, free from coercion- one based on respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, rule of law, transparency, freedom of navigation in the international seas and peaceful resolution of disputes.
Our engagement under the Quad framework has been very useful. It has acquired a salience and a momentum with two Leaders’ Summits last year. We have adopted an ambitious and a constructive agenda which addresses many of the significant contemporary challenges of our times, especially in the Indo-Pacific region. And this was very evident in the positive vision of our leaders at the Summit and the aspirations that they articulated at that time.
As the pandemic continues to impact us, we have undertaken collective efforts to address global health security. The Quad Vaccine initiative and our collective vaccine delivery, to which Marise, you referred to, these have been very crucial in the Indo-Pacific, for countries to meet the challenges. We are taking forward initiatives and efforts aimed at resilient supply chains and trusted critical technologies, climate action, educational linkages. There is ample scope to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR), and to work together to address global issues such as terrorism, cyber security, maritime security, and disinformation.
India continues to pursue an agile and multidimensional strategy towards the Indo-Pacific through bilateral frameworks, but also cooperation with regional organisations such as ASEAN whose centrality in the Indo-Pacific region is recognized. It is heartening to see the enhanced focus on the Indo-Pacific by countries outside the region.
I look forward to our discussions today and once again thank you Marise for this opportunity.