NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the Quad vaccine initiative would greatly help the countries of the Indo-Pacific region. Modi, along with US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, participated in the first-ever in-person Quad leaders’ summit in New York.
“Be it Covid, security, or technology, the Quad will work together and will be a force for global good,” the prime minister said in his opening remarks.
Biden, who is hosting the summit, said that the Quad group has democratic partners who share a world view and have a common vision for the future. He also announced the Quad scholarships where 25 students from each member country would be able to pursue master’s degrees in prestigious US universities.
Earlier this year in March, the leaders had met virtually in the first-ever Quad summit. The leaders are expected to discuss and announce the formation of working groups on the situation in Afghanistan, 5G technology, supply chains and infrastructure cooperation. Morrison said that Australia believes in a free and open Indo-Pacific while Suga said that it was important that the US lifted restrictions on the import of Japanese products like rice and others for an effective economic recovery in the post-pandemic period.