Quad ministers welcome India hosting upcoming summit

New York, July 30 (IANS) The Quad foreign ministers have said that they look forward to India hosting the Quad Leaders’ Summit later this year – a meeting with added symbolism because it will be one of Joe Biden’s last presidential travels abroad.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Foreign Ministers Penny Wong of Australia and Yoko Kamikawa of Japan welcomed the holding of the Quad summit in India in a joint statement after their ministerial meeting in Tokyo on Monday.This year’s summit, which is India’s turn to host, was originally expected to be held in January, but did not happen because Biden reportedly wasn’t able to make it at that time.White House National Security Spokesperson Advisor John Kirby confirmed last week that Biden would attend the upcoming summit in India.”We’re still committed to there being a Quad leader summit this year, but there’s nothing on the calendar right now for it,” he said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the summit with the participation also of Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese of Australia and Fumio Kishida of Japan.The timing and venue of the last summit in 2023 were also disrupted by Biden’s travel plans.By rotation, it was scheduled to be held in Australia, but was cancelled when Biden pulled out at the last minute citing domestic compulsions as he was in the middle of negotiations with Congress on raising the government limits on borrowing.It was later moved to Hiroshima, but with Australian Albanese acting as the host and held on the sidelines of a summit of the major industrialised countries, the G7.Biden, who announced this month that he will not be seeking another term as president, last visited India in September for the summit of the major economies, the G20 hosted by Prime Minister Modi.(Arul Louis can be contacted at [email protected] and followed at @arulouis)–IANSal/sha