India hosts Quad under current chairmanship
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday hosted the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi, bringing together top diplomats from the United States, Japan, and Australia for high-level discussions focused on regional security and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
The meeting, held under India’s chairmanship of the Quad grouping, was attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
The leaders reviewed key regional and global security challenges while discussing ways to deepen cooperation in areas such as maritime security, connectivity, critical technologies, infrastructure, and strategic coordination across the Indo-Pacific region.
The Quad, comprising India, the United States, Australia and Japan, has increasingly emerged as a major strategic coalition aimed at promoting peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific.
The meeting in New Delhi came nearly a year after the previous Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Washington DC.
#WATCH | Delhi | After Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting, EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, “The Quad nations are open societies that foster innovation and creativity in our quest for growth and prosperity. These forces are strengthened when we undertake more exchanges as we intend to… pic.twitter.com/RFUKDObmlM
— ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2026
Over the past few years, the Quad nations have launched several initiatives focused on strengthening regional resilience, improving connectivity, enhancing maritime security and boosting infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific.
At the 2024 Quad summit held in Wilmington, the leaders had announced major measures to strengthen maritime cooperation and security coordination in the region.
Addressing the media after the meeting, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the Quad nations remained committed to promoting innovation, economic growth and regional stability.
“The Quad nations are open societies that foster innovation and creativity in our quest for growth and prosperity. These forces are strengthened when we undertake more exchanges as we intend to do,” Jaishankar said.
“So, whether it is in business forums, healthcare initiatives, or digital activities, each facet of a joint effort makes the region that much better,” he added.
The minister also underlined the Quad’s common stand against terrorism.
“As democratic nations, we also devoted attention to countering the common threat of terrorism. There must be zero tolerance for terrorism, and nations subject to terrorist attacks have the right to defend themselves,” Jaishankar said.
Highlighting the growing importance of the Indo-Pacific region, Jaishankar said the responsibilities of the Quad would continue to expand alongside rising economic and strategic activity.
“A free and open Indo-Pacific has many dimensions and facets. Our meeting today took stock of the progress in many of them while encouraging exploration in others,” he said.
“In the coming days, whether it is economic activity, energy trade or maritime commerce, the Indo-Pacific will become even more important to the world. The responsibilities of the Quad will grow commensurately, and we must prepare for that,” he added.
Calling the discussions productive, Jaishankar said the foreign ministers exchanged valuable perspectives as representatives of four maritime democracies located across different parts of the Indo-Pacific.
“We’ve just concluded a very substantive and productive meeting of the Quad foreign ministers. Much of the discussions and indeed the bilateral exchanges were devoted to the current state of the world,” he said.
“Because we are four maritime democracies located at different ends of the Indo-Pacific, the exchange of perspectives was an exercise of considerable value,” the minister added.
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