NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is set to depart for Japan on Sunday evening to participate in the second-in person Quad leader's summit, said he will hold a bilateral meeting with United States president Joe Biden this week.
“I will hold a bilateral meeting with President Joseph Biden, where we will discuss further consolidation of our multifaceted bilateral relations with the USA. We will also continue our dialogue on regional developments and contemporary global issues,” read PM Modi’s departure statement as he elaborated on the Tokyo visit agenda.
The prime minister also said he was looking forward to meeting with Australia's newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. This will be the first Quad leader's summit for the Australian leader as the PM.
“I look forward to a bilateral meeting with him (Anthony Albanese) during which the multifaceted cooperation between India and Australia under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and regional and global issues of mutual interest will be discussed,” the statement read.
On Saturday, PM Modi had congratulated Albanese for the Australian Labor Party's victory in the country's federal election. “I look forward to working towards further strengthening our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and for shared priorities in the Indo-Pacific region,” Modi said in his congratulatory tweet.
Modi will be in Tokyo on Monday and Tuesday. He was invited by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. “During my visit to Tokyo, I look forward to continuing our conversation further, with an aim to strengthen the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership,” the prime minister underlined.
He will also engage with the Japanese business community and the Indian Diaspora.
The Quad leaders' summit will be held on Tuesday and will focus on the challenges and opportunities across the Indo-Pacific and focus on ways to deliver on the vision of a free, open and inclusive region.
Modi will meet Biden on May 24, as both leaders will be traveling to Japan for the Quad leaders’ summit. He will also hold a bilateral meeting with Japan counterpart Kishida on the sidelines of the summit.
This is the fourth Quad leaders’ summit — two virtual summits and one in-person summit has already taken place. The situation in Ukraine is expected to dominate the discussions.
“The summit in Tokyo is the fourth interaction of Quad leaders since their first virtual meeting in March 2021, in-person Summit in Washington DC in September 2021 and virtual meeting in March 2022,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)statement said.
The leaders will review progress of Quad initiatives and Working Groups, identify new areas of cooperation and provide strategic guidance and vision for future collaboration, it said.
About the meeting between Biden and Modi, the MEA said the meeting will mark a continuation of the regular dialogue having interacted most recently in virtual mode on April 11.
“The two leaders are expected to review the India-US Strategic Partnership and follow up on discussions held during the PM’s bilateral meeting with President Biden in September 2021. They will also exchange views on regional and global developments of shared interest,” it said.
Formed with Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, Quad was an initiative of the Trump Administration, which Biden has elevated to the leadership level. There have so far been three summits, two of them virtual.
“We believe that this summit will demonstrate both in substance and in vision that democracies can deliver and that these four nations working together will defend and uphold the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters in Washington. — Agencies
