Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the first-ever Quadrilateral grouping’s leaders’ summit,  where US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Scott Morrison and Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga were present, asserted that the countries will work together to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

“We are connected by our democratic values and our commitment towards a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Our agenda today covering areas like vaccines, climate change and emerging technologies makes the Quad, a force for global good,” PM Modi said while referring to the world leaders as his friends.

Speaking at the First Quad Leaders’ Virtual Summit. https://t.co/Ypom6buHxS

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 12, 2021

Calling the meet an extension of the ancient Indian philosophy ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, which regards the world as one family, the Prime Minister added, “Quad has come of age and will remain an important pillar of stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Kicking off the summit, US President Joe Biden said Quad is going to be a vital arena for cooperation in Indo-Pacific.

The Quad meeting is Prime Minister Modi’s first meeting with Biden, after the new US administration assumed office in January this year. They have spoken over the telephone twice since November, when it became clear that Biden had won the US elections. The foreign ministers of the Quad grouping have met thrice so far, twice in-person, and once virtually.

Maritime security, cooperation on Indo-Pacific region, resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies — these are hot-button issues aimed at countering China.

The Quad grouping was revived in 2017, and it has been re-invigorated in the past few years, in the face of belligerence by China.