PM Modi to meet Biden on May 24 on sidelines of Quad summit

This is the fourth Quad leaders’ summit – two virtual summits and one in-person summit has already taken place. The situation in Ukraine is expected to dominate the discussions.

Announcing the Prime Minister’s visit to Japan, Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “At the invitation of the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo on May 24, along with US President Joseph R Biden and the Prime Minister of Australia.”

Australia is going to elections on May 21, and therefore, the elected leader is expected to join the Quad leaders’ summit – either in-person or virtually.

“We believe that this summit will demonstrate both in substance and in vision that democracies can deliver and that these four nations working together will defend and uphold the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters during the daily White House news conference in Washington DC.

In Tokyo, Biden will also launch a new and ambitious economic initiative for the region, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which will be a 21st century economic arrangement, designed to tackle new economic challenges, he said.

The framework, he said, will involve work ranging “from setting the rules of the digital economy to ensuring secure and resilient supply chains to managing the energy transition to investing in clean, modern high standards infrastructure”.

Biden will be joined in person by the Japan Prime Minister for the launch of IPEF and virtually by leaders from a number of Indo-Pacific partners from down under to southeast Asia to northeast Asia.

“On security and economics, on technology and energy, on investment in infrastructure, we think this trip is going to put on full display President Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy and that it will show in living colour that the United States can at once lead the free world in responding to Russia’s war in Ukraine, and at the same time, chart a course for effective, principled American leadership and engagement in a region that will define much of the future of the 21st century,” Sullivan said.

“The summit in Tokyo is the fourth interaction of Quad leaders since their first virtual meeting in March 2021, in-person Summit in Washington DC in September 2021 and virtual meeting in March 2022,” the MEA said.

It said the forthcoming Quad Summit provides an opportunity for the leaders to “exchange views about developments in the Indo-Pacific region and contemporary global issues of mutual interest”.

The leaders will review progress of Quad initiatives and Working Groups, identify new areas of cooperation and provide strategic guidance and vision for future collaboration, it said.

It said Prime Minister Modi will have a bilateral meeting with Japan Prime Minister Kishida on May 24. “The meeting with PM Kishida will provide an opportunity for the two leaders to carry forward their conversations from the 14th India-Japan Annual Summit held in March 2022, when PM Kishida visited India.”

Modi will also participate in a business event with Japanese business leaders and address and interact with the Indian community in Japan.

About the meeting between Biden and Modi, the MEA said the meeting will mark a continuation of the regular dialogue having interacted most recently in virtual mode on April 11. “The two leaders are expected to review the India-US Strategic Partnership and follow up on discussions held during the PM’s bilateral meeting with President Biden in September 2021. They will also exchange views on regional and global developments of shared interest,” it said.

It also said Prime Minister Modi is likely to have a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Australia. “The two leaders are expected to review the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest,” the MEA said.