Quad leaps into security collaborations for Indo Pacific
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Quad Wilmington Declaration announces close security partnership
By Raisina Correspondent
New Delhi, September 21: The Quad Leaders’ Summit on Sunday issued ‘Wilmington Declaration’ for close-knot maritime partnership with intent to secure the waters of the Indo Pacific.
“Today, we are announcing a new regional Maritime Initiative for Training in the Indo-Pacific (MAITRI), to enable our partners in the region to maximize tools provided through IPMDA and other Quad partner initiatives, to monitor and secure their waters, enforce their laws, and deter unlawful behaviour,” said the Wilmington Declaration.
The declaration was issued after the fourth in-person Quad Leaders’ meeting in Wilmington, Delaware in the US. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Australia), Prime Minister Narendra Modi (India), Prime Minister Kishida Fumio (Japan), and President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (the United States) attended the meeting.
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“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,” added the Wilmington Declaration.
It also announced “that the U.S. 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 continuing with further missions in future years across the Indo-Pacific”.
The Wilmington Declaration fully asserts the transformation of Quad from an alliance for economic partnership to full-scale strategic and security bond. Earlier, Quad meetings merely issued statements calling for freedom of navigation and the enforcement of the UN Laws for the international waters.
But now the Quad committed to enforce the maritime laws. This would mean that the Quad partners will confront violators of the international maritime laws, which principally in the Indo pacific is understood for China.
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“We also announce today the launch of a Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network pilot project, to pursue shared airlift capacity among our nations and leverage our collective logistics strengths, in order to support civilian response to natural disasters more rapidly and efficiently across the Indo-Pacific region,” added the Wilmington Declaration.
To give a boost to the region’s connectivity, Wilmington Declaration announced “the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership, which will harness the Quad’s expertise to support sustainable and resilient port infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific, in collaboration with regional partners”.
In 2025, a Quad Regional Ports and Transportation Conference will be hosted by India in Mumbai, added the declaration. “Through this new partnership, Quad partners intend to coordinate, exchange information, share best practices with partners in the region, and leverage resources to mobilize government and private sector investments in quality port infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific region,” added Wilmington Declaration.
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