India to host Quad Foreign Ministers meeting in New Delhi on Friday

The next meeting of the Quad Foreign Ministers will be hosted by India in New Delhi on Friday, a day after the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting ends.

The meeting will be chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and will see the participation of Foreign Minsters of Australia and Japan and the Secretary of State of the United States of America, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong are already in New Delhi for the G20 FMM.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi could not attend this meeting due to his preoccupation with his country's parliamentary session. Japan had sent Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Kenji Yamada to represent the country at the G20 meet. But Hayashi will now be traveling to New Delhi for Friday's Quad meeting.

According to the MEA, the meeting will be an opportunity for the Ministers to continue their discussions held at their last meeting in New York in September 2022. "They will exchange views on recent developments in the Indo-Pacific region and regional issues of mutual interest, guided by their vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific," the MEA said.

The Quad Foreign Ministers will also review progress made by the Quad in pursuit of its constructive agenda and implementation of initiatives aimed at addressing contemporary priorities of the region, the MEA added.

It is expected that the meeting will also help prepare for the Quad Leaders’ Summit scheduled to be hosted by Australia later this year. The last Quad Leaders’ Summit was held in Tokyo, Japan in May 2022.