HT Exclusive: Quad to take place in Hiroshima, focus on capacity building, Indo-Pacific

Despite change on travel plans of US President Joseph Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the G-7 and Quad summit in Hiroshima and then proceed to attend the Indo-Pacific Forum meeting in Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea and round up his travel with a bilateral summit in Australia. According to officials, Quad is not a gang up of democratic powers against China but all about mutual economic, technological and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. That the belligerence of the Xi Jinping regime in the Indo-Pacific is one of the foundation pillars of Quad, there is no doubt. While US President Biden is also expected to meet PM Modi on the side-lines of the G-7 summit, the two countries along with Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will announce an MoU very soon on regional integration of the Middle East with road and rail infrastructure as an alternative to China’s Belt Road Initiative (BRI). Decision to this effect was taken in a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Ruler of UAE Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al NahyanUnited States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on May 7.