Jaishankar says QUAD 'very open-minded'; stresses need to bolster India's supply chain

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Wednesday, said that QUAD is “very much for real” and has moved “very effectively and well” in the past year. Addressing delegates at the Global Technology Summit 2021 lauded the four-party group and said that it was a “very contemporary arrangement.” He further said that subjects that QUAD looked at were “very practical” that had the potential to make a difference. 

Jaishankar said, "To my mind, it has moved well precisely because it is a very contemporary arrangement that is loose, it is creative and it is open-minded. You throw ideas, you like it, you pick up on it; you do not like it you put it on the side, sometimes you revisit it, so it is a new way of working," he said.

'Need to strengthen domestic supply chain' 

During the meet, Jaishankar spoke about India’s technology-driven transition and its administration’s handling of the COVID  pandemic. Elaborating on the need to bolster India’s supply chain, he said more production would lead to more employment. For this purpose, he reckoned that India should focus more on startups, creating employment, education, skill development and fostering an environment of growth of technology. 

“People talk about supply chains. I would say, first of all, look at your domestic supply chains that should be your first responsibility. So we need to continuously strengthen our domestic supply chain. We cannot have economic growth without these strengths and commensurate employment growth. Jobless growth is not growth, not certainly for a country like us," he said.

Established in 2004, the QUAD or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a strategic dialogue between the United States, India, Japan and Australia that was formed in 2007 with the initiative of the then Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. Over the years, the group has shared concerns and deliberated solutions over a myriad range of topics, including regional security, the Indo-pacific situation, economic progress amongst others. More recently, they discussed the importance of sustained international cooperation to end the COVID-19 pandemic in the Indo-Pacific and to promote economic recovery.  

(With inputs from agencies)

(Image: AP)