Quad to harness India's capability for massive vaccine diplomacy project

The leaders at the Quad summit made a commitment on Friday to harness Indias manufacturing prowess for a massive vaccine diplomacy project to deliver 1 billion doses to the IndoPacific region and beyond as the fournation group eyes broader agenda US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has saidCalling the Quad and emergent institution he said on Friday These four leaders made a massive joint commitment with India manufacturing US technology Japanese and American financing and Australian logistics capability The Quad committed to delivering up to 1 billion doses to ASEAN The IndoPacific and beyond by the end of 2022Indias vaccine development and manufacturing capabilities put it in the drivers seat in the project that is of imminent importance to the QuadPrime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted United in our fight against COVID19 we launched a landmark Quad partnership to ensure accessibility of safe COVID19 vaccines Indias formidable vaccine production capacity will be expanded with support from Japan US amp Australia to assist countries in the IndoPacific regionTodays summit shows that Quad has come of age Modi said at the beginning of the summit with Prime Ministers Scott Morrison of Australia and Yoshihide Suga of Japan and US President Joe Biden as the group reaches for a new role embracing development and cooperation beyond the four nations as a force for the global goodIt will now remain an important pillar of stability in the region Modi saidVice President Kamala Harris also participated in the summit that was held virtually with Biden presiding from the White HouseSullivan said that the leaders agreed to meet in person before the end of the yearBiden is trying to give the Quad that is formally known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue an impetus to expand in other areas with a new model of cooperationSullivan said at his briefing in Washington that the challenge posed by China figured in the talks and they made clear that none of them has any illusions about China but today was not fundamentally about ChinaHowever Sullivan said The Quad is not a military alliance its not a new NATO despite some of the propaganda thats out there What it is is an opportunity for these four democracies to work and also with other countries on fundamental issues of economics technology climate and securityEach of the leaders independently in the course of the meeting referred to this event as historic because its cemented a group of strong democracies that will work together going forward to secure a free and open IndoPacific Sullivan saidThe leaders discussed key regional issues including freedom of navigation and freedom from coercion in the South and East China Seas the North Korea nuclear issue and the Myanmar coup he saidA joint statement issued at the end of the summit said that the four countries will establish a vaccine working groups on vaccine and technologyThe critical and emergingtechnology working group will work to facilitate cooperation on international standards and innovative technologies of the future while the climate working group will seek to strengthen climate actions globally on mitigation adaptation resilience technology capacitybuilding and climate finance the statement saidThe statement also said they will try to meet challenges to the rulesbased maritime order in the East and South China SeasIt said We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions and also confirm the necessity of immediate resolution of the issue of Japanese abductees As longstanding supporters of Myanmar and its people we emphasise the urgent need to restore democracy and the priority of strengthening democratic resilienceSecretary of State Antony Blinken National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Sumona Guha the National Security Councils senior director for South Asia also participated in the summitAs the summit began Biden said The United States is committed to working with you our partners and all of our allies in the region to achieve stability This is a group particularly important because it is dedicated to the practical solutions and concrete resultsThe Quad is going to be a vital arena for cooperation he saidSullivan did not give further details of the vaccine plan But some media reports said that the US would help India manufacture the onedose vaccine developed by Johnson amp Johnson that does not require ultracold refrigeration like other US vaccinationsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever