WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will depart on a Pacific tour next week during which he will hold meetings with the members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) and other regional partners.
Blinken will travel to Australia, Fiji, and Hawaii to engage with Indo-Pacific allies and partners to advance peace, resilience, and prosperity across the region and demonstrate that these partnerships deliver.
Blinken will attend the fourth Quad Foreign Ministers' meet during his stay in Australia from February 9 to 12. The ministerial meeting will be hosted by Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne.
"With our Quad partners, we are delivering results for our populations and the region, including by advancing cooperation on Covid vaccination delivery, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, maritime security, counter-terrorism, cybersecurity, countering disinformation, climate change, and critical and emerging technologies," the State Department said in a statement.
Blinken is scheduled to meet with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Foreign Minister Payne, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and other senior officials to discuss a range of bilateral and global priorities.
This Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) foreign ministers' meeting is expected to be held in Melbourne. The last Quad Foreign Ministers meeting was held virtually in February last year.
External Affairs Ministry's spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Thursday said the next meeting is expected to be held later this month in Melbourne. "We hope to share an update on this soon," Bagchi said at a virtual weekly media briefing.