US intends to hold 'very ambitious' in-person Quad leaders meeting in Washington: Official

President Joe Biden's policy coordinator for the Indo-Pacific region on June 9 said that the US intends to hold a “very ambitious” Quad leaders meeting in Washington which will have all Quad leaders in attendance. While speaking at an online event hosted by the Center for a New American Security think tank, Kurt Campbell said that the QUAD bloc of nations is focused on "deepening" its cooperation ahead of a potential in-person meeting of leaders later this year. It is worth mentioning that Quad is a security alliance between India, the US, Japan and Australia.

Campbell said, “Our goal is to hold an in-person Quad meeting...very ambitious meeting here in Washington in the fall with all leaders in attendance. We will ensure that we've taken the necessary steps on the vaccine deliverable-- we intend to build on that”. 

Campbell also indicated that the Biden administration doesn’t foresee a delay in the four-nation plan, which was announced at the White House in March at the Quad Virtual summit. He also added that other countries had shown “interest” in the grouping. He even said that involvement wasn’t closed to others. 

"Our discussions with both our partners in the private sector and also in government suggests that we are - knock on wood - still on track for 2022. I think we understand, the only way to be effective, to counter this, is through vaccine diplomacy. We're trying to step that up more generally," he said.

‘Spark of hope…’

Meanwhile, at its maiden summit in March 2021, the Quad had decided to build a first-of-its-kind joint vaccine supply chain to address the current and any future pandemic situations in the Indo-Pacific region. The United States, India, Japan, and Australia had agreed that Indian drugmaker Biological E Ltd would produce at least a billion vaccine doses by the end of 2022 that would go to Southeast Asian countries, elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, and beyond. All four world leaders - Biden, PM Modi, Suga and Morrison wrote a joint Op-Ed on March 13 and termed their partnership a “spark of hope to light the path ahead” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is among the greatest risks to health and economic stability in recent history, and we must work in partnership to stop it in its tracks. Now, we are launching an ambitious effort to help end Covid-19. Together, we pledge to expand and accelerate production in India of safe, accessible, and effective vaccines.” PM Modi had said in March. 

(With inputs from ANI)