External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, today said that he is very optimistic about the future of the QUAD as the new way of working is more flexible and openminded.

EAM Jaishankar was addressing the media at the inaugural session of the India-Japan Forum with his Japanese Counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi.

“I am really very optimistic (for the future of QUAD)…Every meeting of the QUAD is depending the agenda and gives us issues to work on. There are many more ideas about where we are going. This new way of working as flexible, open-minded is the way how the future of important relationships is going to go, they are not going to go by 1945-50 type of alliances,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

“We restarted (QUAD) in 2017. Every six months, people pronounce it dead. And every time it reincarnated it was stronger and stronger,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

He said that the issues are very practical.

“Today, we have critical and emerging technologies. You have a maritime domain awareness. You have SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief).”

Mr. Jaishankar said that the QUAD is deepening the agenda with every meeting.

“It is giving us many more issues to work on. And I feel after every meeting that actually there are many more ideas about where we’re going. So I am today very validated that this new way of working which is very flexible, very open minded, very a lot of give and take,” he said.

“This is the way to go. This is how actually, the future of important relationships is going to go. They’re not going to go by 1945, 1950 type, balance analysis,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

India and Japan established diplomatic relations in 1952. India, Japan, Australia, US are part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), commonly known as the Quad.

The two leaders also spoke on terrorism, counter-terrorism, technology, people-to-people ties and modernisation.

The Japanese Foreign Minister had arrived in New Delhi earlier yesterday.

Mr. Jaishankar and Yoshimasa Hayashi held the 15th India-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi on yesterday.

The meeting provided an opportunity to review the progress made in the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership.

The two ministers engaged in comprehensive discussions covering a wide range of issues of bilateral, regional, and global significance. They highlighted the importance of further strengthening India-Japan partnership based on shared values and principles.

The ministers emphasized the importance of achieving the target of JPY 5 trillion Japanese investment in India in the period 2022-27. They explored potential areas of collaboration in critical and emerging technologies, including semiconductors; resilient supply chains; and digital public infrastructure, among others.

During the meeting, the ministers also expressed satisfaction with the strengthening of defence and security cooperation, including regular exercises and staff talks between all three services. In this context, they discussed a way forward to deepen defence equipment and technology cooperation.

The ministers exchanged views on regional and global issues of interest as well.

(ANI)