Context

A year after India refused to upgrade its Quadrilateral grouping with the US, Australia and Japan to the level of Foreign Secretaries, the Foreign Ministers of the four countries are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

About

• Indo-Pacific Quadrilateral also known as Quad Group is a closed group consisting of India, Australia, Japan & USA.
• Japan pioneered the initiative in 2007 as a coalition of maritime democracies.
• First Official quad talks were held in Manila, Philippines in 2017
• Securing a rules-based global order, liberal trading system and freedom of navigation are believed to be the guiding principles.
• It aims to contain a rising China and its “predatory” economic and trade policies.
• The purpose is also to provide alternative debt financing for countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Report on stability was recently launched by four think tanks from the Quad countries at the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF).
• The report was published by Quadripartite Commission on Indian Ocean Regional Security, which put out a series of 20 policy recommendations for stability in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
• It recommended that the four countries should work to oppose the establishment of permanent Chinese military bases in the IOR.