Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], October 27 (ANI): Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday mentioned that the Quad leaders’ summit, involving Australia, the United States, Japan, and India, can be held within the first quarter of 2026, after beforehand anticipated plans for India to host in 2025 had been delayed.
Albanese highlighted the Quad’s significance for regional cooperation throughout his go to to Malaysia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) discussion board.
‘The Quad is a vital discussion board and an essential car for us to have interaction Australia, the United States, Japan and India. I’m hopeful that there can be a gathering within the first quarter, I might hope, of subsequent yr. Prime Minister Modi is because of host the Quad assembly,’ Albanese informed reporters at a press convention in Kuala Lumpur.
A joint assertion launched between India and the US in the course of the working go to of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2025 mentioned that PM Modi seems ahead to internet hosting President Trump in New Delhi for the Quad leaders’ Summit this yr. However, the summit was later postponed amidst strains between India and the US.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is a strategic discussion board of the United States, India, Australia, and Japan aimed toward a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Quad got here collectively in the course of the 2004 tsunami within the Indian Ocean area to coordinate response and help to international locations within the area. The first assembly of Quad officers occurred on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum summit within the Philippines in May 2007. After a spot of 10 years, Quad officers met in Manila in November 2017 on the margins of the East Asia Summit.
The first Quad Leaders’ Summit was held nearly on March 12, 2021, adopted by the second Quad Leaders’ Summit (the primary in individual) on September 24, 2021, in Washington, DC. The third Quad Leaders’ Summit was held nearly on March 3, 2022, to debate the scenario in Ukraine and its impression on the Indo-Pacific. The fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit (second in-person) was hosted by Japan on May 24, 2022. Following this, the fifth Quad Leaders’ Summit (third in-person) was held in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 20, 2023. Prime Minister Modi participated within the sixth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 21, 2024.
Meanwhile, Albanese participated within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit within the Malaysian capital, which started on October 26. Leaders and representatives of China, Russia, Japan, India, Australia, and New Zealand are attending the ASEAN-related summits. Brazilian President Lula da Silva and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are collaborating as observers. Ramaphosa is the Guest of the Chair on the forty seventh ASEAN Summit and the East Asian Summit.
The Australian Prime Minister termed Southeast Asia as one of many fastest-growing areas on this planet and emphasised the ‘proximity of alternative’ to Australia versus the ‘tyranny of distance’ in its markets within the United Kingdom, within the United States and in Europe.
‘Now we communicate concerning the proximity of alternative. And that’s what Southeast Asia represents for us. That is what residing proper close to the quickest rising area of the world in human historical past represents for us. An alternative to develop jobs, to develop our economic system, to diversify our markets and our commerce to reach Australia, which is the premise of why I’m right here,’ Albanese mentioned as per a readout of the press convention.
‘We’re working to be not simply neighbours or observers, however individuals and traders right here within the area,’ he mentioned.
He mentioned that on Monday morning, Australia introduced two main investments underneath the Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility.
‘Today, we introduced $175 million in IFM Investors’ Asia Pacific debt fund. IFM, after all, signify no less than 15 superannuation firms. What that may do is present that pool of funding for funding right here in Southeast Asia. And $50 million US in Plenary’s new Southeast Asia Public Private Partnership Investment Fund – collectively, these investments signify a serious step ahead in my authorities’s supply on that Southeast Asia Economic Strategy. It’s 1 / 4 of a billion {dollars} to kick begin Australian investments within the area, assist the expansion of Australian firms and ship jobs again dwelling,’ Albanese mentioned. (ANI)