Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to the USA to participate in the Quad Summit on September 24 and is expected to hold a separate bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden as well.
Earlier there was some uncertainty over the Quad Summit taking place as Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was caught up in a volatile political situation at home and there were doubts on whether he could make the trip.
However, Kyodo News Agency has now reported from Tokyo that PM Suga will visit the US later this month for a meeting of Quad leaders comprising India, US, Japan and Australia.
This will be PM Modi’s first visit to the US after President Biden has assumed office and will come at a time when the geopolitical situation in the region has changed drastically with the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and Taliban sweeping to power in a blitzkrieg.
PM Modi is likely to leave for Washington on September 22. According to sources, he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Biden on September 23 and the Quad Summit is likely to be held on September 24, after which he will leave for New York to address the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 25.
Final arrangements are being made for the leaders of the United States, Australia, Japan and India to meet in person in Washington on Sept. 24, Kyodo News reported on Thursday, citing unnamed U.S. and Japanese sources.
The four countries held their first meeting in March virtually and had agreed to work closely on COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution, climate issues and security as part of an effort to counter China's growing influence.
At the Quad Virtual Leaders’ Summit held in March this year, the leaders agreed to hold an in-person summit by the end of 2021 but the surge in the COVID-19 pandemic had introduced an element of uncertainty on international physical meetings.
The US expects India to bounce back as an exporter of vaccines and play a key role in the fight against the devastating pandemic just as it did during the first wave of Covid-19.
The Indo-Pacific Quad alliance had at a summit in March convened by US President Joe Biden drawn up a clear action plan to accelerate the production of Covid-19 vaccines with India as the world’s vaccine manufacturing hub and the US and Japan providing the financial backing. Australia will be pitching in as well to tackle the acute shortage of vaccines in the region.
The vaccine alliance assumes even greater importance since China-made vaccines have failed in the South-east region as they are not working against Covid-19.
Also read: US sees big role for India as vaccine supplier in Covid war as China-made shots flop
