Quad Meeting 

• Recently, Senior officials of Australia, India, Japan, U.S. met at a video conference for the first Quad meeting since March 2021. 

Key Highlights: 

• Quad leaders exchanged views” on regional issues such as the East and South China seas, where the Chinese navy has had conflicts over territorial rights with other countries, North Korean actions, and military rule in Myanmar. 

• There were also deliberation on Quadrilateral cooperation in the areas of “quality infrastructure, maritime security, counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief toward the achievement of a Free and Open Indo- Pacific region. 

• A special emphasis was made on their support for the “centrality” for the ASEAN grouping of South-East Asian countries in the Indo-Pacific region. 

• They discussed plans to cooperate on COVID vaccines, for one billion Johnson and Johnson vaccines to be produced in India by 2022, funded by the U.S. and distributed by Japan and Australia in South East Asia. 

About QUAD 

• It is also known as Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD). 

• QUAD is an informal group of India, the US, Japan and Australia. 

• It is a strategic dialogue with the objective to ensure a free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo Pacific