PM Modi return home after a successful US Visit (21-23 September 2024)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on an official tour of the United States of America (USA) from September 21 to 23, 2024. During his visit, he attended the sixth Quad Summit meeting and addressed the ‘Summit of the Future’ conference at the United Nations General Assembly.

He also attended the CEO Roundtable meeting in New York with the captains of American technology leaders in semiconductors, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum technology, biotechnology and Life Sciences, computing, IT, and Communication. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), School of Engineering, organised the CEO Roundtable. 

He also addressed the Indian Diaspora in a public function in New York.

During the sixth Quad Summit meeting, it was agreed that India would host the seventh Quad Summit meeting in 2025 and the USA would host the foreign ministers’ meeting in 2025.

Joe Biden Hosts the 6th Quad Summit in  Wilmington, Delaware

The USA President Joe Biden hosted the sixth QUAD summit at Wilmington, Delaware, at his home.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister  Fumio Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and USA President Joe Biden attended the summit.

India will host the next Quad meeting in 2025

• Initially, India was to host the 6th Quad Summit meeting in 2024 in New Delhi and the USA in 2025. However, due to logistics issues, both countries swapped the hosting rights. 
• All four member countries of Quad are participating in the “Summit of the Future” conference organised by the United Nations in New York on 22-23 September 2024.
•  If the Quad meeting had been held in New Delhi, it would have been logistically difficult for the leaders to attend both the Quad Summit on 21 September and the United Nations Conference.
• Thus, it was decided that the USA would host the 2024 Quad Summit as it will be convenient for all the leaders, while India would host the 2025 Quad Summit. 

Joint Declaration of the 6th Quad Summit 

A Joint declaration was issued at the end of the meeting of the four leaders in Delaware. A number of initiatives were announced in the joint declaration. The main highlights of the declarations are as follows:

Quad Cancer Moonshot

• Joe Biden announced the Quad Cancer Moonshot programme to strengthen the Indo-Pacific region's overall cancer prevention and treatment ecosystem. Initially, it will focus on cervical cancer, which affects women and is highly preventable.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India will grant US $7.5 million for the QUAD Cancer Moonshot program.
• India will also support radiotherapy treatment and capacity-building for cancer prevention in the region.

MAITRI Launched 

• A new regional initiative, the Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI), was announced. It will train Indo-Pacific partner countries to improve their maritime security and domain awareness to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific.
• The first MAITRI workshop will be held in India.

Quad Ports of the Future Partnership

• The Quad Ports of the Future Partnerships will be launched to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development in the Indo-Pacific region in cooperation with partner countries.

• The first inaugural Regional Ports and Transportation Conference will be held in Mumbai in 2025.

Clean Energy

• India has committed to investing USD 2 million in new solar projects in Fiji, Comoros, Madagascar, and Seychelles as part of the Quad initiative to promote clean energy in the Indo-Pacific region.

Coast Guard Cooperation

• Coast Guards of the four member countries -the USA, India, Australia, and Japan will 

launch the first Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission in 2025 in the Indo-Pacific to improve interoperability. 

About Quad and its Summit Meeting

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, now known as Quad, was the brainchild of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. It was set up in 2007 to facilitate maritime cooperation between these countries after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster. 

So far, six summit meetings, including two virtual meetings and eight foreign minister-level meetings, have taken place. The recent foreign minister meeting was held in Tokyo, Japan, on 29 July 2024.

• The first Summit Meeting was a virtual meeting hosted by the USA in March 2021.
• Second meeting was an in-person meeting held in Washington, D.C, USA, on 21 September 2021.
• The third meeting was a virtual meeting held in March 2022
• Fourth hosted by Japan in Tokyo in May 2022
• Fifth hosted by Australia in May 2023
• Sixth by the USA in Delaware on 21 September 2024.