QUAD Leaders’ Summit 2024

31 December 2024

The US president, Joe Biden, hosted the fourth in-person QUAD Summit in his hometown of Delaware on September 21, 2024. Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and Japanese prime minister, Kishida Fumio, gathered to create a charter, aimed at addressing challenges in the Indo-Pacific. They emphasised the goal of being ‘A Global Force for Good’.

Over the past four years, QUAD leaders have met six times, including twice virtually, while QUAD foreign ministers have met eight times, with the most recent meeting in Tokyo in July 2024. Regular consultations have advanced shared priorities across the Indo-Pacific and QUAD has institutionalised long-term cooperation. QUAD governments have been securing funding for initiatives and strengthening inter-parliamentary exchanges including the formation of bipartisan Congressional QUAD Caucus.

The next QUAD foreign ministers’ meeting would be hosted by the US in 2025, and the next QUAD leaders’ summit would be hosted by India in 2025.

The QUAD, formally known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is a diplomatic partnership among Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. Established to promote a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, the QUAD focuses on addressing regional challenges through cooperative efforts in various sectors such as health security, climate change, infrastructure development, technology, cybersecurity, humanitarian assistance, and maritime security. The QUAD’s origins trace back to a joint humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, evolving over time into a strategic grouping that addresses both security and developmental issues. The partnership has gained momentum since its revitalisation in 2017, focusing on tangible outcomes that benefit the region’s stability and prosperity.

The partnership emphasises the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s centrality and aligns its initiatives with regional priorities, including those of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Indian Ocean Rim Association. This collaborative approach aims to enhance resilience and connectivity across the Indo-Pacific while respecting the leadership of regional institutions.

Since elevating the QUAD to a leader-level format, the group has been strategically aligned, positively impacting the Indo-Pacific. Representing nearly two billion people and one-third of the global GDP, the QUAD is committed to a free, open, and inclusive region.

Some Highlights of the Summit

Global health and health security In 2023, the QUAD had launched the QUAD Health Security Partnership in order to enhance coordination and collaboration on health security in the Indo-Pacific. This initiative has been taken to strengthen the region’s ability for detecting and responding to potential epidemic or pandemic diseases, with new initiatives announced for the support of these goals.

The QUAD has launched the historic QUAD Cancer Moonshot to reduce cancer-related deaths in the Indo-Pacific, initially focusing on cervical cancer. Building on the COVID-19 collaboration, the initiative combines public, private, and non-profit efforts. The Women’s Health and Empowerment Network has committed US$ 10 million for Southeast Asia.
The QUAD has been committed to strengthening health security in the Indo-Pacific, including continued support for the Pandemic Fund. In 2024, the QUAD has advanced regional resilience through pandemic preparedness exercises and health specialist training. India would be hosting a workshop on pandemic preparedness, while Australia has been increasing public health specialist training. The US would pledge US$ 84.5 million for enhancing disease response capabilities in 14 Indo-Pacific countries.
In response to the ongoing clade I and clade II mpox outbreaks, the QUAD is planning to coordinate efforts for ensuring equitable access to safe, effective, and quality-assured mpox vaccines. This would further include expanding vaccine manufacturing in low- and middle-income countries where appropriate.

Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief In 2022, QUAD foreign ministers signed the guidelines for the QUAD partnership on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief. In May 2024, following the landslide in Papua New Guinea, the QUAD coordinated a US$ 5 million response and has continued to support the country’s long-term resiliency. The QUAD has been working on disaster preparedness through pre-positioning supplies and has been planning a tabletop exercise. Additionally, QUAD partners are providing over US$ 4 million aid to Vietnam after Typhoon Yagi.

Maritime security The QUAD partners are collaborating with regional partners for the enhancement of maritime security, improvement of maritime domain awareness and towards upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) was launched at the 2022 QUAD Leaders’ Summit, Tokyo. IPMDA has been providing its partners with advanced radio frequency data to monitor maritime activities, combat illegal fishing, respond to climate change, and strengthen law enforcement. Since its launch, the QUAD has expanded this initiative enabling over two dozen countries to access dark vessel data for monitoring unlawful activities. The next phase would enhance IPMDA with electro-optical data and advanced analytics.

The QUAD has launched a pilot project for the Indo-Pacific Logistics Network for sharing airlifting capacity and leverage collective logistics strengths. This initiative has been aimed to support faster and more efficient civilian responses to natural disasters across the Indo-Pacific complementing existing efforts with regional partners.
In 2025, the US Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard, Australian Border Force, and Indian Coast Guard would launch the first ever QUAD-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission in the Indo-Pacific for enhancing interoperability.
Quality infrastructure The QUAD focuses on resilient infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific, signing a Memorandum of Cooperation for promoting supply chain resilience, emerging technologies and renewable energy. They also released Joint Principles for Digital Public Infrastructure, emphasising security and sustainability. Additionally, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure held a workshop in India for the enhancement of power sector resilience.
The QUAD Ports of the Future Partnership will harness QUAD’s expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure for enhancing connectivity in the Indo-Pacific. In 2025, the partners intend to hold the first Regional Ports and Transportation Conference, hosted by India in Mumbai.
The QUAD Infrastructure Fellowships, which were announced at the 2023 Summit, aim to enhance the capacity and professional networks for infrastructure projects. It has expanded to 2,200 experts with over 1,300 fellowships provided.
The QUAD Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience has strengthened the undersea cable networks which is vital for regional security. Australia has launched the Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre for workshops and assistance. Japan has conducted capacity-building and planning technical cooperation in Nauru and Kiribati. The US has trained over 1,300 officials and has plans to invest US$ 3.4 million in training. The QUAD partners have committed over US$ 140 million for undersea cabling projects in the Pacific, aiming for primary telecommunication connectivity by 2025.

Critical and emerging technology The QUAD has been collaborating closely to lead in technological innovation and is committed to leveraging emerging technologies for the benefit of the Indo-Pacific. These technologies are aimed to enhance economic prosperity, openness, and connectivity across the region.

In 2023, QUAD partners had launched the first Open Radio Access Network (RAN) deployment in Palau with a US$ 20 million commitment to support secure telecommunications. They planned to expand Open RAN collaboration, including field trials and the Asia Open RAN Academy in the Philippines supported by US$ 8 million from the US and Japan. The US would invest over US$ 7 million in Open RAN workforce training in South Asia. The QUAD partners would also explore additional projects in Southeast Asia and collaborate with Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation for 5G readiness.
The summit launched the Advancing Innovations for Empowering NextGen Agriculture initiative to advance artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and sensing in agriculture, with US$ 7.5 million for joint research. The QUAD further signed a Memorandum of Cooperation among science agencies and emphasised safe and secure AI systems through international efforts.
The QUAD partners would launch the BioExplore Initiative with US$ 2 million to use AI for studying ecosystems, advancing innovations in health, agriculture, and clean energy, while building technological capacity and promoting responsible research and development collaborations in critical and emerging technologies.
The leaders welcomed private sector initiatives, such as the QUAD Investors Network (QUIN). The QUIN facilitates investments in strategic technologies such as clean energy, critical minerals, semiconductors, and quantum. Moreover, the QUIN has been mobilising many an investment to promote supply chain resilience, advance joint research and development besides investing in QUAD’s future workforce. QUIN has also advanced initiatives like a startup campus in Tokyo and a venture accelerator with the University of Tokyo. Furthermore, the QUIN has developed a Quantum Centre of Excellence to strengthen collaboration in quantum technology across QUAD countries, fostering innovation and economic resilience.

Climate and clean energy The QUAD acknowledged the threat of climate change for which various steps have been taken time and again to mitigate its effects, promote clean energy, and support sustainable development. The QUAD aims to enhance its Early Warning Systems and the Climate Information Services (CIS) initiative for the support of Pacific Island countries in addressing climate change. For this, the US would provide 3D-printed weather stations and training to experts in Fiji. Australia is also strengthening early warning systems, and Japan has been strengthening cooperation under its ‘Pacific Climate Resilience Initiative’ disaster risk reduction through resilience with satellite technology and clean energy by installing renewable energies. The QUAD aims to strengthen clean energy supply chains in the Indo-Pacific, focusing on mineral production, recycling, and battery manufacturing. Australia has been working on a US$ 50 million programme which supports solar, hydrogen, and battery projects.

Cyber security The QUAD has been enhancing its cybersecurity by collaborating on the QUAD Action Plan to Protect Commercial Undersea Telecommunications Cables, pursuing to secure software standards and digital resilience along with manufacturers, trade groups, and research centres for strengthening secure software development. Capacity-building initiatives like the QUAD Cyber Bootcamp and a conference in the Philippines are aimed to improve cybersecurity skills. The QUAD has been addressing national security vulnerabilities and sharing cyber threat information to protect critical infrastructure networks.

People-to-people ties QUAD countries have been strengthening their ties through exchanges on cybersecurity, workforce development, women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, government transparency and regional maritime governance. The QUAD has welcomed the second cohort of fellows, expanding to the ASEAN students. Japan has been supporting the program, with private sector partners like Google. A QUAD Fellowship Summit was held in Washington DC in October 2024.

Space The QUAD recognised space technology’s role in the Indo-Pacific, focusing on Earth Observation Data, climate early warnings, and space situational awareness. India’s space portal for Mauritius has been supporting monitoring of extreme weather. QUAD partners aim to enhance space sustainability and prevent debris collisions.

Countering terrorism The QUAD hosted its first Counter Terrorism Working Group in 2023 and decided to meet annually to address Counter Terrorism threats, share information, and collaborate on countering unmanned aerial systems, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear devices, and terrorist use of the Internet. It also hosts workshops and engages non-QUAD members. The QUAD discussed and explored ways to engage non-QUAD members with QUAD-established counter-terrorism expertise.

India and the QUAD

India, represented by Modi, emphasised the importance of the QUAD’s collaboration amidst global tensions, advocating for shared democratic values such as support for a rule-based international order, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and commitment to a free, open, inclusive, and prosperous Indo-Pacific at the 2024 Summit.

Modi underlined that the QUAD was there to stay, to assist, to partner and to complement the Indo-Pacific countries. Further, he highlighted some of the India’s contribution over the past few years.

India has launched the Indo-Pacific Quad Vaccine Initiative during the COVID pandemic to handle challenges such as cervical cancer.
India announced a grant of US$ 7.5 million for cancer testing, i.e., Human Papilloma Virus kits and diagnostics under the Quad Moonshot Initiative. It will also offer technical assistance via Digital Public Infrastructure.
India will contribute 40 million vaccine doses to Indo-Pacific countries through GAVI and QUAD initiatives.
India is utilising AI to develop new treatment protocols for cervical cancer and is ready to share expertise.
The QUAD has introduced Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific with India hosting the first workshop in 2025, for enhancing regional maritime security and cooperation.
India has initiated a feasibility study for the expansion of undersea cable maintenance and repair in the region.
India has announced 50 QUAD scholarships worth US$ 5,00,000, for Indo-Pacific students pursuing engineering at Indian institutions.
India along with Japan and the US has committed investments in solar and renewable energy projects aiming to enhance energy efficiency and cooling systems would help climate-vulnerable communities.
Further, India played a crucial role in shaping the QUAD’s focus on maritime security and disaster relief. It emphasised maritime domain awareness and adherence to international laws. It promoted the vision of “Security and Growth for All in the Region”. India strengthened ties through defence cooperation and acts as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean region.

Conclusion

The 2024 QUAD Leaders’ Summit marked a significant step forward in strengthening the partnership among India, Australia, Japan, and the United States, reaffirming their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. With a focus on shared democratic values, the leaders announced several impactful initiatives aimed at enhancing maritime security, health cooperation, and infrastructure development. The launch of the QUAD Cancer Moonshot and the Indo-Pacific Logistics Network reflects a proactive approach to addressing pressing regional challenges.

As the QUAD navigates an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape, particularly concerning the threats posed by an expansionist China and ongoing global conflicts, it is clear that this partnership is poised for longevity. The declaration that “the QUAD is here to stay” underscores its resilience amid political transitions in member countries. The QUAD must continue to build on its momentum by implementing these initiatives effectively, fostering deeper cooperation with regional partners like ASEAN, and enhancing public awareness of its objectives. The future of the QUAD lies in its ability to adapt to emerging challenges while maintaining a focus on human-centric approaches that prioritise the well-being of people in the Indo-Pacific.