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#QUAD FOREIGN MINISTER’S MEETING AT MELBOURNE

• On 11^thFebruary 2022, Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attended the Fourth Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting held at Melbourne – Australia.
• The meeting was attended by his counter parts from US, Australia and Japan.
• At the 4^thQuad Foreign Ministers Meeting, EAM Jaishankar called for a free and open Indo-pacific and urged member nations to work towards ensuring a rule-based international order.

Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting

• Australia is hosting the 4^thQuad Foreign Ministers Meeting in Melbourne. Foreign Ministers from all 4 members’ nations of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) – i.e., Australia, India, Japan and the United States are meeting to discuss global order and rising geo-political and geo-economic challenges in the global order.
• Australia was being re-presented by Foreign Minister Marise Payne who was joined by Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa, and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

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EAM’s Jaishankar 1^st Official Visit to Australia

• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is also on his 1^stOfficial Visit to Australia from 10^th to 13^th February 2022. During his visit, Mr Jaishankar will also co-chair the 12th Foreign Ministers' Framework Dialogue on 12^th Febraury 2022.
• On 12^thFebruary, Foreign Ministers of India and Australia will also co-chair the inaugural Foreign Ministers' Cyber Framework Dialogue (FMCFD) with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne.
• During the dialogue, ministers will assess the implementation of India-Australia Framework Arrangement on Cyber and Cyber-Enabled Critical Technology Cooperation which was signed in June 2022 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

RELATED: 1^ST IN-PERSON QUAD SUMMIT

The first in-person meeting of Quad leaders was hosted by the US. Issues like climate change, Covid-19 pandemic and challenges in the Indo Pacific, amidst China's growing military presence in the strategic region, were discussed in the meeting.

Background:

• In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quadto develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence.
• China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it.
• The South China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean.
• In 2020, the trilateral India-US-Japan Malabar naval exercises expanded to include Australia, marking the first official grouping of the Quad since its resurgence in 2017.
• Further, it is the first joint military exercises among the four countries in over a decade.
• In March 2021, the Quad leaders met virtuallyand later released a joint statement titled ‘The Spirit of the Quad,’ which outlined the group’s approach and objectives.
• Further, just before this meeting, the US has announced a new trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific, between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS).
• Major Highlights of the Quad Summit:
• Discussed Afghanistanand agreed to deepen their cooperation in South Asia.
• Quad Vaccine Initiative: Under this, the Quad countries have pledged to donate more than 1.2 billion Coid-19 vaccine doses globally, in addition to the doses financed through Covax.
• Building Back Better Health Security: Supported the call for “global pandemic radar to improve viral genomic surveillance and expand the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS).
• Quad Infrastructure Coordination Group: TheG7 grouping has recently announced the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative.

#DIFFERENCE BETWEEN QUAD & AUKUS?

• Prime Minister Modi has arrived in Washington DC for his visit to the United States of America. He was invited by US President Joe Biden.
• This is PMs first visit to any country beyond the neighbourhood since Covid-19 pandemic.  He would also attend the QUAD summit along with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister YoshihideSuga.
• However, this is different from the AUKUS (Australia- UK-US) Alliance that was recently announced. 

What is QUAD?

• The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or QUAD is a strategic dialogue between four countries.
• These are the United States, India, Australia and Japan.
• The dialogue began in 2007 by the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe along with the US Vice President Dick Cheney, Australian PM John Howard and Indian PM Manmohan Singh. The military exercise associated with it was the Malabar exercise. 

What is AUKUS?

• AUKUS is a trilateral security alliance between the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. It was initiated on September 15, 2021.
• The pact would allow the US and UK to help Australia develop nuclear powered submarines and deploy them in the Pacific region.
• This would increase the presence of Western military in the Pacific. As of now no other country has been mentioned by the founding countries to be a party in this alliance and it is speculated that it may be a counter to China's increasing presence in the region. 

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Nuclear Submarine Alliance: AUKUS

Recently, Australia, the US and the UK signed an agreement allowing the exchange of sensitive “naval nuclear propulsion information” between their nations.

• It is the first agreement on the technology to be publicly signed since the three countries announced the formation of a defence alliance, AUKUS, to confront strategic tensions in the Pacific where China-US rivalry is growing.
• Under the AUKUS deal, Australia would obtain eight state-of-the-art, nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarinescapable of stealthy, long-range missions.

Five Eyes Alliance

• The Five Eyes alliance is an intelligence-sharing arrangementbetween five English-speaking democracies: the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
• The alliance was created during the Cold War (1946-1991)that was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as their respective allies.
• The alliance was needed to share sensitive information regarding their adversaries on all possible fronts available.
• It is often described as theworld's most successful intelligence alliance.

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