The QUAD nations announced a new regional Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI), to enable their partners in the region to maximise tools provided through Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) and other Quad partner initiatives to monitor and secure their waters, enforce their laws, and deter unlawful behaviour.”We look forward to India hosting the inaugural MAITRI workshop in 2025. Furthermore, we welcome the launch of a Quad maritime legal dialogue to support efforts to uphold the rules-based maritime order in the Indo-Pacific. In addition, Quad partners intend to layer new technology and data into IPMDA over the coming year to continue to deliver cutting edge capability and information to the region,” the declaration said.The QUAD nations also announced that the US Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard, Australian Border Force, and Indian Coast Guard plan to launch a first-ever Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission in 2025, to improve interoperability and advance maritime safety and continue with further missions in future years across the Indo-Pacific.They also announced the launch of a Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network pilot project to pursue shared airlift capacity among the four nations and leverage the collective logistics strengths to support civilian response to natural disasters more rapidly and efficiently across the Indo-Pacific region.Announcing the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership, which will harness the grouping’s expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific in collaboration with regional partners, the declaration said that they intend to hold a Quad Regional Ports and Transportation Conference, hosted by India in Mumbai.”Through this new partnership, Quad partners intend to coordinate, exchange information, share best practices with partners in the region, and leverage resources to mobilise government and private sector investments in quality port infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific region,” the joint statement said.Applauding the expansion of the Quad Infrastructure Fellowships to more than 2,200 experts, the declaration noted that Quad partners have already provided well over 1,300 fellowships since the initiative was announced at last year’s Summit.Further, it said the four countries look forward to launching the Quad BioExplore Initiative, a funded mechanism that will support joint AI-driven exploration of diverse non-human biological data across all four countries.This project will also be underpinned by the forthcoming Quad Principles for Research and Development Collaborations in Critical and Emerging Technologies, the joint declaration said.The Quad Leaders’ Summit this year was earlier supposed to be held in India, but President Biden was keen to hold the event in his hometown.The US, Japan, India, and Australia had in 2017 given shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the “Quad” or the Quadrilateral coalition, to counter China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region.The four-member Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, advocates upholding a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific.China claims that the grouping aims to contain its rise.
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