Quad meet in India reaffirms support to free, open Indo-Pacific

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific and strongly supported the peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threats or use of force and freedom of navigation and overflight.

The Quad meeting was presided by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi and US State Department Secretary Antony Blinken.

"Our meeting today reaffirms the Quad's steadfast commitment to supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive and resilient. We strongly support the principles of freedom, rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force and freedom of navigation and overflight and oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, all of which are essential to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and beyond," read the statement released by Quad.

The joint statement of the Quad Leaders issued in New Delhi on March 3 also denounced the use of terrorist proxies and committed to promote accountability for terrorist attacks including the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, "which claimed lives of citizens from all Quad countries". Heavily-armed terrorists from Pakistan struck in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 in which at least 174 people, including 26 foreign nationals, were killed and over 300 people injured.

"We announce the establishment of the Quad Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, which will explore cooperation amongst the Quad and with Indo-Pacific partners, to counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalization to violence and violent extremism," the joint statement said.

(ANI)