Quad Foreign Ministers Meet in Washington, Condemn Pahalgam Attack

The 10th Quad Foreign Ministers meeting, held in Washington, D.C, the United States of America on 2nd July 2025, strongly condemned the Pahalagam terror attack in Kashmir; however, it did not name Pakistan. 

26 tourists -25 Indian and one Nepali citizen were killed in Pahalgam on 22 April that was claimed by the Resistance Front (TRF).TRF is a front organisation of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group. India launched Operation Sindoor to destroy terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir on 6/7 May 2025.

This was the first Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting to be held after Operation Sindoor.

The United States currently holds the chairmanship of the Quad.

Who hosted the 10th Quad Foreign Minister Meeting?

The 10th Quad foreign ministers’ meeting was hosted by the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, D.C, on 2nd July 2025. 

It was the second Quad foreign minister meeting of the year. 

The first meeting of the year was held on 21 January 2025 in Washington after the swearing in of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States on 20 January 2025. 

Who attended the meeting?

The Quad meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the four Quad members: India, Australia, Japan, and the United States.

It was attended by Dr S Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister, Penny Wong, Australian Foreign Minister, Iwaya Takeshi, Japanese Foreign Minister and Marco Rubio, American Secretary of State.

Quad launches Critical Mineral Initiative 

Following the Foreign Minister's meeting, a joint statement was issued, announcing several initiatives.

Quad Critical Minerals Initiative

• All four countries will collaborate on securing and diversifying critical mineral supply chains. 
• China dominates the global critical mineral market with a global market share of more than 80 %. 
• Critical minerals play an important role in defence, electronics, and renewable energy systems.
• China has used critical minerals as political and strategic tools to achieve its foreign policy objectives against Japan, Australia, the USA and India.

Maritime and Transnational Security

• To enhance maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership will be launched.
• For this purpose, the first Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI) workshop will be held in Mumbai in October 2025.

Free and Open Indo-Pacific

• The Quad countries reaffirmed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is crucial for promoting the prosperity of all the citizens in the region.

About Quad and its Summit Meeting

The idea of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, was proposed by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to facilitate maritime cooperation following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Initially, it was proposed as a forum of India, Japan, Australia and the United States to promote maritime cooperation, but later it was increasingly seen as a platform to contain China in the region.

Quad came into existence in 2007.

The first Summit meeting of the four countries' leadership was held in March 2021.

The sixth Summit meeting was hosted by President Joe Biden of the United States of America in Delaware on 21 September 2024.

The seventh Quad Summit meeting will be hosted by India in 2025.