Quad Foreign Ministers Meet: Rubio Launches Maritime Initiative; Jaishankar Backs Indo-Pacific Growth

Quad Foreign Ministers Meet: The Quad foreign ministers on Tuesday unveiled a series of new initiatives aimed at strengthening maritime security, regional connectivity, and economic resilience across the Indo-Pacific. The meeting in New Delhi brought together External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. Following the talks, leaders highlighted expanded cooperation in maritime surveillance, logistics, undersea cable protection, disaster relief, trusted technologies, and secure supply chains.

Quad Announces New Maritime Security Initiatives

Speaking after the meeting, Rubio described the discussions as outcome-oriented and announced two major maritime initiatives designed to improve coordination across the Indo-Pacific.

Rubio said, as per reports, “I’m very happy today that as a result of the work that our teams have been doing leading up to this conversation, we have real concrete achievables that we can announce to our respective countries and to the world. On the issue of maritime security, there are two big announcements.”

Rubio explained that the first major outcome was the launch of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Cooperation Initiative, which would utilize the maritime surveillance capabilities of each Quad nation to improve information sharing across the region. He added that this was linked to the expansion of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative, designed to provide near-real-time commercial maritime domain awareness data to countries throughout the Indo-Pacific.

Rubio also confirmed that India would host the next edition of the Quad at Sea mission, a joint coast guard exercise aimed at improving maritime coordination among partner nations.

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Jaishankar Highlights Economic Resilience And Security

Jaishankar said the foreign ministers had held “very substantive and productive” discussions, with a strong focus on Indo-Pacific priorities and emerging regional challenges. EAM Jaishankar said, “Being QUAD, we naturally focused on issues of particular relevance to the Indo-Pacific. Because we are four maritime democracies located at different ends of the Indo-Pacific, the exchange of perspectives was an exercise of considerable value.”

He noted that cooperation among Quad nations has steadily expanded across multiple sectors, particularly maritime security and disaster response.

“The maritime domain has seen a steady expansion of collaboration, including surveillance and domain awareness, logistics network, undersea cables, training, capacity building and HADR activities. We will be continuing to deepen these areas in the times ahead,” he said.

VIDEO | Delhi: Quad Foreign Ministers, Dr S Jaishankar, Penny Wong, Toshimitsu Motegi, and Marco Rubio jointly address the press after their meeting.

(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/WPEx2tkPL9

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 26, 2026

Jaishankar noted that the ministers had spent time discussing the importance of safe and unimpeded maritime commerce and had reaffirmed the need to strictly observe international law. He mentioned that the four nations, being market economies, strongly believed in promoting economic resilience by strengthening supply chains, spreading trusted and secure technologies, and enhancing production capacities. He further stated that their deliberations also addressed the current availability of energy and fertilizers.

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Zero Tolerance On Terrorism Reaffirmed

The Quad ministers also discussed innovation, healthcare partnerships, digital cooperation, and counterterrorism measures during the summit.

After Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting, EAM Dr S Jaishankar said, “The Quad nations are open societies that foster innovation and creativity in our quest for growth and prosperity. These forces are strengthened when we undertake more exchanges as we intend to do. So, whether it is in business forums, healthcare initiatives, or digital activities, each facet of a joint effort makes the region that much better.”

“As democratic nations, we also devoted attention to countering the common threat of terrorism. There must be zero tolerance for terrorism, and nations subject to terrorist attacks have the right to defend themselves,” he said.

Jaishankar also emphasized that the Indo-Pacific’s importance to the global economy would continue to grow in the years ahead. He remarked that a free and open Indo-Pacific had many dimensions and facets, and the meeting had reviewed progress in several of them while encouraging exploration in others. He observed that in the coming days, whether in economic activity, energy trade, or maritime commerce, the Indo-Pacific would become even more significant to the world. He further stated that the responsibilities of the Quad would grow in proportion to this importance, and the member nations needed to prepare accordingly.

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