Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday had a telephonic conversation with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. The two leaders took stock of their bilateral relations and cooperation in several forums, including Quad.

India will be hosting the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — commonly referred to as the Quad, which consists of India, Japan, the US and Australia as members — this year. After his conversation with the Australian PM, Modi posted on X: “Delighted to speak to my friend Anthony Albanese. We took stock of progress in our bilateral relations and cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the Quad.”

India is looking at multiple dates to host the event and one of the options is on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York in September-end. “The date has not been finalised yet,” a source said, adding that New Delhi would want to host the event. The previous Quad meet was hosted by Australia in Sydney, when Japan hosted the G7 meeting in Hiroshima.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs statement, the leaders took stock of progress in the bilateral relations and cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the Quad. The Quad Leaders’ Summit was supposed to be held in January this year but was postponed as Biden was not able to attend it. The US President will attend the summit this time.

Courtesy: The Tribune India: 27th Aug , 2024