NEW DELHI: The Coast Guards of the QUAD nations - India, Japan, the United States, and Australia - have launched a multilateral initiative titled the 'QUAD at Sea Ship Observer Mission'.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Monday termed the initiative a “landmark step” towards deepening maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
“This strategic cross-embarkation initiative sees two officers, including women officers, from each participating nation embarked onboard the United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Stratton, currently en route to Guam, USA,” the ICG said. It reinforces joint maritime readiness through enhanced interoperability, domain awareness, and operational coordination, the ICG added.
This initiative, as per the ICG, is anchored in the Wilmington Declaration adopted at the QUAD Leaders’ Summit (September 2024). The mission reflects the collective resolve of the QUAD, an informal grouping, to strengthen a Free, Open, Inclusive, and Rules-Based Indo-Pacific. The Declaration was adopted at the fourth in-person Quad Leaders Summit, hosted by President Biden in Wilmington, Delaware.
The observer-at-sea engagement marks a first-of-its-kind initiative among the QUAD maritime agencies - Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Japan Coast Guard (JCG), United States Coast Guard (USCG), and Australian Border Force (ABF).
The Indian Coast Guard’s active participation underlines India’s strategic maritime vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and complements national efforts under the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI). It highlights India’s firm commitment to capacity-building, humanitarian outreach, and rule-based maritime order in the region.
The QUAD at Sea Observer Mission, as elaborated by the Indian Coast Guard, thus paves the way for a 'QUAD Coast Guard Handshake' -deepening operational synergies, trust, and maritime governance among like-minded Indo-Pacific partners.
As global maritime challenges grow increasingly complex, this initiative is a decisive stride towards shared security, collective preparedness, and regional resilience.
The integrated theatre formed by combining the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and the land masses that surround them, is termed as the Indo-Pacific. The conspicuous geo-political and geo-economic significance of the Indo-Pacific can be understood from the fact that the region accounts for 65 per cent of the world's population, 63 per cent of the global GDP, and 50 per cent of the world's maritime trade. Comprising important sea-lanes of communication, it is primarily about maritime security and cooperation.