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NEW DELHI: Quad today reflects the growth of a multipolar world and is against the spheres of influence, said External Affairs Minsiter (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar on Saturday.”The Quad is here to stay, the Quad is here to grow and the Quad is here to contribute. So, I would urge you all, please help us to make it more contemporary, make it more relevant, make it more impactful.” This is a very laudable initiative that makes, not just the Indo-Pacific, but frankly, the world as a whole, more free and open and much more respectful of international law and a rules based order,” said Dr S Jaishankar during the Quad Think Tank Forum. Messages from Australian Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and the US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell were also read out during the meeting.Dr Jaishankar said that Quad relflected five things – the growth of a multi-polar order, it is a post-alliance and post-cold war thinking, it is against spheres of influence, it expresses the democratizing of the global space and a collaborative, not unilateral, approach and it is a statement that in this day and age, others cannot have a veto on our choices.”In the last five years, Quad has become a significant and substantive platform for four large resident Indo-Pacific vibrant democracies, that are seeking to uphold an open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Like any new mechanism or platform, the Quad too is a product of its times.” It emerged from global necessities, faltered, for some time, due to a complexity of reasons and was then reincarnated with new governments and different circumstances. Shinzo Abe in Japan was, perhaps, an exception, which is a statement in itself,” Dr Jaishankar added.In 2006, the actual idea of an Quad was put forward by the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But it unraveled within a year and in fact, Abe himself had left office at that time. In 2017, after a full decade, Quad was resumed, first, at the Foreign Secretaries level and then was upgraded in 2019 to the Ministerial one.”Coincidentally, I happened to be occupying both positions at that particular juncture. In 2021, we, all four of us, upgraded it to the Summit level and it has flourished since. It has been my privilege to have participated in all the meetings that have taken place since then,” Dr Jaishankar added.
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‘Quad is here to stay, grow and contribute’: Dr S Jaishankar
