Off the back of the Quad leaders’ summit at the weekend, Australia, India, Japan and the US are now looking to the private sector to take critical and emerging technology to the next level.
From clean energy, semiconductors, critical minerals, and quantum, the Quad hopes investors have an appetite for more strategic investment in these areas.
“We welcome the launch of the private sector-led Quad Investors Network (QUIN),” a statement from the group read.
“We intend to support joint research to advance innovation in agriculture through emerging technologies designed to empower farmers everywhere to increase yield and resistance.”
A number of Quad-endorsed principles documents were also published at the weekend, reflecting support for industry-led, consensus-based multi-stakeholder approaches as the sector evolves. They also aim to promote interoperability, innovation, trust, transparency, diverse markets, security-by-design, compatibility, inclusiveness and free and fair market competition.
Australia and the US used the meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, to agree to a statement of intent across climate, critical minerals and clean energy transformation.
US president Joe Biden said the pact would establish climate and clean energy as the third pillar of the Australia-US Alliance.
“This contract can enable the expansion and diversification of clean energy supply chains, especially as it relates to critical materials,” Biden said.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said the importance of the agreement showed both nations recognised that action on climate change was “entry-fee to credibility in the Indo-Pacific”.
“Many of our neighbours understand that climate change is an existential threat. And what we understand is that it’s an important component of our national security, and that’s why it is an important component, an essential part of our alliance,” Albanese said.
Albanese, whose first year in office coincided with the third in-person Quad leaders’ meeting, described the group as “outcomes focused” of “important friends” in the region.
“One year on [since coming into power] I’m absolutely delighted to be amongst close friends again here in Japan to continue our important work. Standing together for an open, stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region,” the PM said.
“A region where sovereignty is respected, and all countries large and small benefit from a regional balance that keeps the peace.
“Respect for the leadership of regional institutions including ASEAN, the Pacific Island Forum, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association is central to our approach,” he said.
In addition to the climate, critical minerals and clean energy transformation pact,
The Quad also agreed to a vision statement for partners of the Indo-pacific region, guided by four principles:
- Deep investment in the future prosperity and stability of the Indo-Pacific, and a commitment to bringing enduring benefit to the region by providing options that build resilience, open communication and economic growth.
- Maintaining and strengthening stability in the Indo-Pacific where competition is managed responsibly, in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Charter, and work to strengthen and reform the multilateral system to ensure all nations, large and small, continue to have a voice. Also by upholding the international order based on the rule of law.
- Acknowledge and respect for the centrality, agency, and leadership of regional institutions, including ASEAN, the Pacific Islands Forum, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association, and a commitment to work in and alongside them to complement their efforts and advance our shared interests.
- A commitment to work transparently and in open dialogue to implement a practical agenda that delivers sustained economic and social value, is responsive to regional partners, and contributes to global priorities by advancing the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals, noting the transformational power of technology to help meet these goals.
Albanese said the vision statement was guided by regional countries’ priorities and responds to the region’s needs to be a global force for good with a “positive and practical agenda”. Action on climate action, ocean health, resilient infrastructure, maritime security and financial integrity, would be a key part of the Quad’s work, as well as achieving the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he added.
“Working with countries across the region and guided by their priorities, we strive to ensure that the principles that have underpinned peace and stability and stimulated decades of growth and prosperity continue to apply for decades to come, including the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Albanese said.
“The Indo-Pacific’s key challenges of health security, rapidly changing technology, the grave threat of climate change, and the strategic challenges facing the region, summon us to act with renewed purpose.”
The meeting also led to an evolution of the Quad Vaccine Partnership into a broader Quad Health Security Partnership, where supporting health security in the Indo-Pacific would receive stronger coordination and collaboration to grow the region’s capacity to detect and respond to outbreaks of diseases.
Other announcements were made relating to sustainable infrastructure priorities, cybersecurity, undersea cable connectivity and resilience, the enhancement of export credit agencies, and the pilot work of the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) aimed at combatting illicit maritime activities.
India will host the next Quad leaders’ summit in 2024.
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