Quad Summit, bilateral with Biden, diaspora event, ‘Summit of the Future’ on PM Modi’s US visit agenda

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to begin his three-day visit to the United States starting Saturday morning. The visit will see PM Modi engage in high-level meetings with world leaders, attend the annual Quad summit, and participate in discussions at the United Nations.

The first program on the PM’s agenda will be the annual Quad summit to be held in Wimington, Delware, the hometown of US President Joe Biden.

The Sixth Quad summit brings together India, Australia, Japan, and the United States, with a commitment to work as a force for global good and to support an open, free, and inclusive Indo-Pacific that is prosperous and resilient. The summit is also critical for India as it will be hosting the next Summit.

PM Modi will join US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday to discuss regional security and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

The last Quad Leaders’ Summit, the fifth edition, was held in Hiroshima, Japan on May 20 last year. In addition to the Joint Statement, the “Quad Leaders’ Vision Statement – Enduring Partners for the Indo-Pacific” was also released, outlining the Leaders’ vision for a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific, and upholding the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and peaceful resolution of disputes.

Quad partners are working together to address climate change and support regional partners, in particular the countries in the Indo-Pacific.

They are collaborating on sustainable consumption and production, clean hydrogen, disaster risk management, exchanging climate information, green shipping and ports, and capacity building. At the 2023 Leaders’ Summit, the Clean Energy Supply Chains Initiative was announced to facilitate research and development and support energy transition in the Indo-Pacific.

The Quad Principles of Clean Energy Supply Chains were released to guide engagement with the region on clean energy supply chain development.

Quad is also working towards a more secure cyberspace and strengthening cyber resilience and critical infrastructure protection in the Indo-Pacific. At the 2023 Quad Summit, the Quad Joint Principles for Secure Software and the Quad Joint Principles for Cyber Security of Critical Infrastructure were released, to strengthen defences against cyber threats to the software supply chain and critical infrastructure and services.

At the 2023 Leaders’ Summit, the Leaders decided to evolve the former Quad Vaccine Partnership into a more comprehensive Health Security Partnership to promote coordination and collaboration between Quad countries and partners in the Indo-Pacific to strengthen regional and global health security. It builds on the successful collective efforts to provide safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines, critical medicines, and healthcare equipment to the Indo-Pacific.

The Quad shares assessments of regional infrastructure needs and coordinates respective approaches to deliver transparent, demand-driven, quality, and climate-resilient infrastructure.

At the 2023 Leaders’ Summit, ‘Quad Infrastructure Fellowships’, aimed to empower more than 1,800 of the region’s infrastructure practitioners to design, build, and manage quality infrastructure in their home countries, was announced. ‘Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience’, aimed to strengthen cable systems in the Indo-Pacific, drawing on Quad countries’ world-class expertise in manufacturing, delivering, and maintaining cable infrastructure, was also announced.

Quad is also working to exchange Earth observation satellite data and analysis to help Indo-Pacific countries better adapt to climate change, prepare for natural disasters, and better manage oceans and marine resources.

A very special event this time on the sidelines of the Quad Summit will be a Cancer Moonshot event, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in a special briefing on the PM’s US visit. Through this milestone initiative, the Quad aims to implement innovative strategies to prevent, detect, treat, and alleviate the impact of cancer on patients and their families. “And to begin with, we intend to collaborate in reducing the burden of cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific region,” Misri said.

Just ahead of the Quad summit PM Modi is expected to engage in a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden. India and United States enjoy a comprehensive global strategic partnership covering almost all areas of human endeavour, driven by shared democratic values, convergence of interests on a range of issues, and vibrant people-to-people contacts.

One of the key issues is India-US defence cooperation, which was renewed for ten years in 2015. In 2016, the defence relationship was designated as a Major Defence Partnership (MDP). On 30 July 2018, India was moved into the Tier-1 of the US Department of Commerce’s Strategic Trade Authorization license exception. The US is also the largest trading partner of India with overall bilateral trade in goods and services of $190.1 billion for calendar year 2023.

“There will be an opportunity for both sides to exchange a few agreements. Two, that I would highlight, are the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework-related agreements and an India-US Drug Framework related MoU. There will be a bilateral fact sheet also that will be released on this occasion, which will give you more details. We also expect to have bilateral meetings with the leaders of Japan and Australia,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.

On September 22, PM Modi will address a community event of the Indian disapora at the Nassau Colliseum in Uniondale. Prime Minister will address a gathering of the Indian community in Long Island in New York.

About 4.4 million Indian Americans/Indian origin people reside in the US. Persons of Indian origin (3.18 million) constitute the third largest Asian ethnic group in the US. There are many Indian American community organizations and professional organizations of Indian Americans. Indian Americans are one of the most successful communities and excel in diverse fields, including politics. The Indian diaspora has been a catalyst in cementing closer ties between India and the US.

Prime Minister will also be attending a Business Roundtable with CEOs of leading US companies in the cutting-edge areas of Artificial Intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, and biotechnology.

From Wilmington, the Prime Minister will travel to New York to attend the Summit of the Future (SOTF) at the United Nations on September 23.

The theme of the Summit is ‘Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow’. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called the Summit a ‘once in a generation UN Summit’. SoTF is an important milestone in the history of UN as it enters the 80th year of its establishment in 2025. A Pact for the Future, with its two annexes Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations, will be the outcome document of the SoTF.

The Summit is expected to witness participation of a number of world leaders. The Pact for the Future is seen by many in the Global South as an opportunity to highlight issues of importance in the areas of health, energy security issues, climate change, transform institutions of global governance, economic inequalities, etc.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will participate in the UNGA General Debate and deliver India’s national statement.