Mike Pompeo 'looking forward' to visiting Tokyo for 'productive' QUAD meeting

The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Japan, Mongolia, and South Korea next week. The Department of State on September 29 announced that Pompeo will participate in the second meeting of the Quad Foreign Ministers, of which the US, Japan, Australia, and India are part of. The Quad meeting will take place in Tokyo on October 6, where Pompeo will also meeting with his Japanese counterpart to discuss issues of mutual concerns. 

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The four-day-long trip to East Asia will start on October 4 and is scheduled to end on October 8. Pompeo will visit Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar on October 7 and from there he will leave for Seoul, South Korea for meetings with senior officials. Secretary Pompeo will return to Washington, DC, on October 8. 

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The Quad meeting is one of the important highlights of Pompeo's trip as it comes amid the heightened tensions between the United States and China. The Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) was set up in 2007 by the then-US vice-president Dick Cheney, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Australian PM John Howard, and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. It was revived in 2017 to counter China's increasing economic and military might in the region. 

Read: Pompeo To Participate In QUAD Ministerial Meet In Japan On October 6

Pompeo's Europe trip

Pompeo is currently in Europe, where he met leaders of Greece, Italy, and Croatia and discussed bilateral relationship, security among other things. In Greece, he particularly discussed the escalation between Athens and Ankara over the maritime reserves in the eastern Mediterranean. In Croatia, the leaders will discuss opportunities for closer cooperation between the United States and Croatia in key areas of mutual concern, including defense cooperation, the growing U.S.-Croatia investment relationship, and Croatia’s strong efforts to advance Western Balkan integration.

Read: US Strongly Supports Greece-Turkey Dialogue To Resolve Maritime Dispute: Pompeo

(Image Credit: AP)