Announcements On Covid, Climate Change Likely At Quad Summit: Official

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) leaders will "make announcements relating to COVID-19, clean energy and climate change" following their meeting on Friday, a senior US administration official said.

"President Joe Biden has made the Quad a priority, as we all saw through the first Quad leaders-level engagement in March, which was virtual, and now this summit, which will be in person," a US administration official said in a statement.

The official also said that there will be announcements on COVID-19 following the Quad leaders meeting.

"So the main areas where you will see both consultations and then some announcements will be on COVID-19. And, you know, in March, there was a commitment to producing a billion vaccines through the Quad, by the end of 2022. And there'll be some announcements about moving that forward, as well as other forms of COVID-19 assistance," the official said.

"In addressing the climate crisis -- and there will be clean energy and climate-related announcements coming out of the Quad," the official said.

President Joe Biden will be hosting the first in-person Quad leaders' summit comprising Australia, India, Japan and the US.

"Hosting the leaders of the Quad fundamentally is a demonstration of the priority of engaging in the Indo-Pacific, including through new multilateral configurations designed to focus on 21st-century challenges," the official said.

"Partnering on emerging technologies in cyberspace, promoting high-standards infrastructure, and, of course, an overarching commitment at the core of the Quad to promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific," the official added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to travel to United States to attend the first in-person Quad Leaders Summit and address the UN general debate.

During the significant visit to the US, PM Modi would on September 24 participate in the Leaders' Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework in Washington along with his US, Japanese and Australian counterparts.

The bilateral meeting with the US President is also scheduled for the day. Moreover, this will be PM Modi's first visit to the US since Joe Biden became the President.

He will address the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 25 in New York.