In February, EAM Jaishankar heads to Australia for Quad FMs meet

India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will head to Australia in February for the annual Quad (India, Japan, Australia and the United States) foreign ministers' meeting. Themeet is expected to take place in Melbourne in mid-February.

The visit will be his first visit to Australia as the external affairs minister, and it is also likely to be his first foreign visit in the year 2022. Other than the multilateral aspect of the visit, a substantial bilateral component is also expected during his Australia tour.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted Australian Foreign minister Marise Payne who, in a statement, said that the quad meet is a "Further demonstration of the Morrison government’s efforts to actively shape and influence our region and world by deepening partnerships at a time of strategic competition, threats to liberal international order and increasing uncertainty".

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The last meeting of Quad FMs took place in October 2020. Since then, Quad has been elevated to leaders level. The year 2021 saw two Quad summits. The first one was virtual. The second in-person summit took place in Washington.

Quad summits will take place annually now. The summit will take place in Japan later this year, followed by in India next year. Quad, whose key focus is on vaccines and cooperation in Indo-Pacific is viewed suspiciously by China.

EAM Jaishankar is also expected to visit France in February. The country will host a meet on Indo-Pacific on February 22nd involving foreign ministers of Europe, and other parts of the world including India, and Australia. France holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union for a period of first six months of this year.