The Quad met for the first time at the level of Foreign Ministers in New York on 26 September 2019 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. They have been regularly interacting in their annual meetings since.
Quad Foreign Ministers exchange views on regional strategic challenges and priorities, including maritime security, countering disinformation, counter-terrorism, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Foreign Ministers subsequently met in person on 6 October 2020 in Tokyo. In their meeting on 18 February 2021, while highlighting the shared attributes of Quad countries as political democracies, market economies and pluralistic societies, the Ministers discussed efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, enhancing access to affordable vaccines, medicines and medical equipment, and exchanged views on responding to climate change and furthering cooperation in areas such as maritime security, HADR, supply chain resilience and counter-terrorism. Press Release of the meeting can be seen here.
Foreign Ministers met on 11 February 2022 in Melbourne to further strengthen and advance Quad cooperation. They released a Joint Statement. Later in 2022, the Quad Foreign Ministers met again in New York on 23 September on the margins of UNGA. In addition to their Joint Readout, the Ministers signed the Guidelines for Quad Partnership on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) in the Indo-Pacific and issued a statement recognizing the harmful effects of Ransomware.
Quad Foreign Ministers also met on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on 3 March 2023 in New Delhi to review progress made by the Quad in pursuit of its constructive agenda, as a force for global good, and implementation of initiatives aimed at addressing contemporary challenges and opportunities of the region. They released a Joint Statement and announced the new Quad Working Group on Counter-Terrorism to explore cooperation amongst the Quad, and with Indo-Pacific partners, to counter new and emerging forms of terrorism, radicalization to violence and violent extremism.
In their most recent meeting held on the margins of the UNGA in New York on 22 September 2023, they issued a Joint Readout reiterating, inter alia, their commitment to a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific, support for full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and all its SDGs, countering terrorism, and advancing a comprehensive UN reform agenda including expansion in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of the UN Security Council.
Ministers are likely to meet in person for the next Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Japan in 2024.
