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The foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States agreed to build a port jointly in Fiji, a key initiative for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). They also signed important pacts on mineral and energy security.
The meeting was held at Hyderabad House in New Delhi between Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s S Jaishankar, Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who are the top diplomats of the countries. The brief meeting was the third meeting of the group, known as the Quad. The last was held in Wilmington, Delaware, in September 2024, where the prime ministers of each country participated.
The group’s meeting comes as Washington and Tehran are negotiating a possible deal to end their three-month standoff and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important maritime routes.
The Quad, an alliance created to counter China’s growing geopolitical and maritime influence, lost some momentum last year due to tensions between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Washington’s tariffs and other issues.
Rubio said the group agreed to launch an Indo-Pacific Energy Security Initiative and a key mineral infrastructure.
The group’s “critical minerals” initiative could be particularly significant for Japan, as China imposes tight controls on the export of certain minerals used in the aerospace, defense, and semiconductor industries due to diplomatic disputes.
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Rubio arrived in India on Saturday for a four-day visit aimed at strengthening US-India ties. He held a key meeting with Prime Minister Modi in Delhi where they discussed trade, defense cooperation, energy security, and key technologies. He also stressed the importance of maintaining a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
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