PM Modi to attend virtual Quad meeting today amid Ukraine crisis

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Joe Biden, Australia PM Scott Morrison, and Japan PM Yoshihide Suga at the first ever in person Quad Summit in Washington DC in September, 2021. (Image: Twitter/@narendramodi)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in a Quad Leaders' virtual meeting on 3 March with the leaders of the US, Japan, and Australia, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has announced.

The sudden announcement of the meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue leaders, also known as QUAD, comes amidst geopolitical deadlock at the United Nations (UN) as Russia continues its military assault in Ukraine, while Western allies led by the United States and European Union pile sanctions on Moscow. India has so far abstained from the two major votes held at the UN on the subject.

Sources confirmed to Moneycontrol that the sudden meeting has been called to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and its strategic fallout. The meeting with US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was not scheduled earlier, they said.

However, the MEA did not mention that in the official readout. "The leaders will have an opportunity to continue their dialogue after the September 2021 Summit in Washington DC. They will exchange views and assessments about important developments in the Indo-Pacific. The Quad Leaders will also review ongoing efforts to implement the Leaders’ initiatives announced as part of the Quad's contemporary and positive agenda," it said.

The first-ever in-person Quad summit was held in Washington DC in September 2021 where the bloc committed to keeping the strategic region 'free and open'. The annual meeting for 2022 was set to be hosted by Japan.

During the last leader level Quad meeting, the Quad nations had repeatedly called for a 'free open, rules-based order, rooted in international law and undaunted by coercion, to bolster security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific'.

The statement recognised that, in the past six months, apart from the growing COVID challenge, the issue of regional security has also become more complicated as the QUAD nations spar more with China on a host of issues.