Quad FM's to meet in Philippines on sidelines of ASEAN meeting

Washington, DC [US], June 30 (ANI): The foreign ministers of the Quad nations are projected to meet in the Philippines in around a fortnight, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has declared, reinforcing that the multilateral block stays central to driving a free, open, and resilient Indo-Pacific.

The Philippines, as the 2026 ASEAN Chair, is hosting the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) and Related Meetings in Manila from July 20-22. The Quad FM Meet will be held on the sidelines of this meeting

Addressing the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) Leadership Summit, Gor remarked that the upcoming interaction will assemble the foreign ministers of India, the United States, Japan, and Australia on the fringes of diplomatic engagements in the Philippines.

“I wanna make an announcement here today. We were very pleased to have the Quad meeting in Delhi, and that’s something we aim to build up,” he noted.

“One of the things that we’re actually looking to do is in about two weeks, all four of our foreign ministers will be in the Philippines and we’ll look forward to having a Quad meeting on the sidelines of the Philippines.”

The American envoy further specified that the Manila deliberations will be followed by a separate ministerial assembly in Australia before the heads of state of the four partner democracies gather for a future summit.

“We do aim to have a Quad meeting at some point, a ministerial Quad meeting in Australia,” Gor said, adding, “And followed ultimately by a leaders meeting which we’re trying to nail down. That would include President Trump coming to India. The Quad is extremely important,” he remarked.

He recalled that a specific initiative rolled out during the earlier Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi concentrated heavily on boosting naval and maritime capabilities across the Indo-Pacific expanse.

“One of the deliverables that was announced in Delhi was that the four countries will focus on building boats in the region. That includes Fiji specifically. We wanna make sure that we are present in the Pacific. We’re growing, we’re enhancing our security, we’re working with trusted partners. And India is on that list, very high that list,” Gor underlined.

The diplomat noted that Washington views New Delhi as among its most reliable strategic allies in the Indo-Pacific, with clear objectives to continue scaling up collaboration in defence, maritime domain awareness, cutting-edge technologies, and regional peace.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in March this year, Romeo S. Brawner Jr., Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines had informed that the Philippnes had recently signed an agreement between the Chiefs of Defence of the United States, Australia, Japan and the Philippines, called the Security Quad. The Philippines Army Chief had said that they look to welcome other partners like India into the Security Quad to counter what he described as were China’s expansionism goals

Comprising Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, the Quad has developed into a cornerstone security architecture across the Indo-Pacific. Though it does not function as a formal military treaty, its core mandate focuses on championing an open and inclusive maritime space through shared work on port security, critical technologies, supply chain flexibility, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and disaster response.

The coalition has acquired significant strategic weight amid rising geopolitical rivalries in the region. Over the past few years, the four partner states have multi-layered their engagement through regular high-level summits, ministerial dialogues, and the annual Malabar naval exercises, while simultaneously aligning on emerging tech ecosystems, global health security, and maritime surveillance networks. (ANI)

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