New Mandates emerge at the Quad Summit 2024

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The fourth in-person summit of the Quad at Wilmington, Delaware on September 21, 2024 delivered many new commitments and affirmations of ongoing efforts and measures.

Attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia and President Joe Biden of the United States, the summit brainstormed over issues important to the Indo-Pacific region. Underscoring representation of a large part of the global south, the Quad represents nearly two billion people and over one-third of global gross domestic product.

Recognizing the importance and efforts of regional institutions, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), the Quad announced reforming of the United Nations Security Council to be more representative of all the regions and their concerns, and to be inclusive, transparent, efficient, effective, democratic and accountable. The Quad recognized this can be done through expansion in permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of the UN Security Council, to include representation for Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean in a reformed Security Council.

The joint outcomes report of the Quad summit announces new initiatives and projects, reaffirms the Quad’s commitment and support to ongoing efforts, recognizes the contribution of regional government, private sector and individual efforts in the areas including health security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, maritime security, quality infrastructure, critical and emerging technologies, climate and clean energy, cyber, space and sustainable development goals.

New Initiatives and India’s Contributions

Health Security – There were major announcements in this area.

1. The Quad announced The Quad Cancer Moonshot Initiative, funded by its collective investments to address cervical cancer and other cancers in general in the Indo-Pacific region. The initiative will be supported by scientific, medical and financial contributions from private and non-profit sectors.
2. India announced its commitment of $7.5 million worth of HPV sampling kits, detection kits and cervical vaccines and technical assistance to countries in the Indo-Pacific region for adopting and deploying of its Digital Public Infrastructure to help cancer screening and care.
3. The Serum Institute of India, a non-governmental institute, announced a joint commitment with Gavi to provide 40 million HPV vaccine doses in the Indo-Pacific region, enhanced by a new $100 million commitment from Women’s Health and Empowerment Network (WHEN).

Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) – The Quad reaffirmed its continued support the initiative with an aim to rapidly coordinate during natural disasters.

Maritime Security – The Quad made five new announcements in this area.

1. A new regional Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI) will hold its inaugural workshop in India in 2025. The initiative will enable the region to maximize tools to monitor and secure their waters, enforce their laws, and deter unlawful actions.
2. A new Quad Maritime Legal Dialogue was launched to support efforts to uphold the rules-based maritime order in the Indo-Pacific region.
3. The Quad announced layering new technology and data into IPMDA in the coming year for more enhanced capability and information.
4. A new and first ever Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission will be launched in 2025 collaboratively by the US Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard, Australian Border Force, and Indian Coast Guard. This new mission is expected to improve interoperatibility and advance maritime safety.
5. A pilot project of the new Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network was announced by the Quad. This project will pursue shared airlift capacity among the Quad nations and leverage their collective logistics strength to support civilian response to natural disasters more rapidly and efficiently in the Indo-Pacific region.

In the area of maritime security, the Quad recognized the efforts of

– the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) which offers almost real time, integrated, cost-effective maritime information in the region.

– the 17-member Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the Information Fusion Center – Indian Ocean Region (IFCIOR) in Gurugram, India.

– the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and its guidance on climate action, ocean health, resilient infrastructure, maritime security and financial integrity.

– India’s leadership in finalizing the IORA Outlook on the Indo-Pacific

– the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and of adhering to international law for maritime rules-based order.

The Quad expressed its concern about the situation in the East and South China Seas in strong words about the militarization of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea, and condemned the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels and increasing use of dangerous maneuvers.

Quality Infrastructure – There were new announcements in this area.

1. The Quad announced the new Quad Ports of the Future Partnership to further its commitment to improve the region’s connectivity through a quality and resilient infrastructure to coordinate, exchange information, share best practices and leverage resources to mobilize government and private sector investments in the Indo-Pacific region.
2. India will host the 2025 Quad Regional Ports and Transportation Conference in Mumbai.
3. The Quad announced continued support to the Quad Partnership for Cable Connectivity and Resilience, which is expected to achieve primary telecommunication cable connectivity by the end of 2025.

Critical and Emerging Technologies – A number of initiatives and expansions of older commitments were announced by the Quad in this area.

1. Indian institutions will undertake the first Open RAN workforce training initiative through US investments of over $7 million to support the global expansion of AORA. RAN was the first initiative in the Pacific launched by the Quad in 2023 with a contribution of $20 million.
2. A new Memorandum of Cooperation was signed countries for the Semiconductor Supply Chains Contingency Network.
3. The Quad also announced an inaugural $7.5 million in funding opportunities for joint research following the recent Memorandum of Cooperation between Quad science agencies.
4. The Quad announced a future initiative, the Quad BioExplore Initiative, which will fund and support joint AI-driven exploration of diverse non-human biological data in Quad countries.
5. The forthcoming Quad Principles for Research and Development Collaborations in Critical and Emerging Technologies was also announced.

Climate and Clean Energy – There were a number of new announcements in this area on the Quad’s agenda.

1. A new and focused Quad effort was announced to deploy and manufacture high-efficiency affordable cooling systems to adapt to rising temperatures and reduce strain on electricity grid.
2. India announced commitment to invest $2 million in new solar projects in Fiji, Comores, Madascar, and Seychelles.
3. The Quad announced its continued commitment to collaboratively leverage learning and expertise to forge a sustainable and resilient port infrastructure, along with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

Cyber – A few new initiatives and continuation of support to the existing initiatives was announced in this area.

1. The Quad announced hosting throughout the fall of 2024 campaigns to mark the annual Quad Cyber Challenge which will promote responsible cyber ecosystems, public resources, and cyber-security awareness.
2. The Quad announced its commitment to threat-information sharing and capacity building.
3. The Quad reaffirmed enhancing its cyber-security partnership to address common threats posed by state-sponsored entities, cybercriminals and non-state malicious entities.
4. The Quad also reaffirmed its commitment to its 2023 Secure Software Joint Principles and the Quad Action Plan to Protect Commercial Undersea Telecommunications Cables.

Space – The Quad reiterated its commitment to its initiatives on Space.

1. The Quad countries announced continuing to deliver Earth Observation data and other Space-related applications within the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen climate early warning systems and better manage the impacts of extreme weather events.
2. The Quad announced continued support for open space and recognized India’s establishment of a space-based web portal in Mauritius to support space-based monitoring of extreme weather events and climate impacts.
3. The Quad announced its continued commitment to fostering international cooperation and transparency and confidence building measures to improve the security of outer space.
4. The Quad announced continued adherence to the protocol laid out in the Outer Space Treaty and the signing states’ obligation and commitment not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, or install or station such weapons in outer space.

Quad Investors Network (QUIN) – The Quad commended and welcomed QUIN’s facilitating private sector investments in strategic technologies such as clean energy, semiconductors, critical minerals and quantum.

1. India announced a new initiative to award fifty Quad scholarships worth $500,000 to students from the Indo-Pacific region to pursue a 4-year undergraduate engineering program at a Government of India funded technical institution. The Quad will implement the Quad Fellowship jointly with the Institute of International Education for students from ASEAN countries for the first time.
2. The Quad announced continued support of ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and its regional leadership.

Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change – The announcements in this area were reaffirmations of commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

1. The Quad announced its continued commitment to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs, emphasizing the importance of doing this in a comprehensive manner. It reaffirmed its commitment to accelerate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
2. The Quad also announced the reaffirmation of its commitment to contribute and implement the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls, and recognized the importance of equal opportunity for all stakeholders to contribute to global challenges on health, sustainable development and climate change.
3. The Quad announced continued efforts to realize a safe and secure world where human rights and human dignity are protected, based on the central premise of the SDGs “Leave no one behind”.