US president Joe Biden has said that the virtual summit he held last week with the leaders of India, Japan and Australia went very well.
Biden and the other leaders pledged at the first summit of a group known as the Quad to work to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region and to cooperate on maritime, cyber and economic security, issues vital to the four democracies in the face of challenges from China.
"It went very well. Everybody seemed to like it a great deal," Biden told reporters when asked about the meeting on his return to the White House from a weekend stay at his home in Delaware.
The Quad grouping comprises the US, India, Australia and Japan. The representatives of these nations have met periodically since its establishment in 2007.
Biden on Friday (12) opened the first Quad leaders' summit held virtually and attended by prime minister Modi, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga.
In his address, Biden said that it was going to be a vital arena for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. He also described Quad as a new mechanism to enhance cooperation and raise mutual ambition as they address accelerating climate change.
"We know our commitments...Our region is governed by international law, committed to all the universal values and free from coercion but I am optimistic about our prospect,” he said, in an apparent reference to China which is flexing its muscles in the region.
The four countries plan to establish a series of working groups that will focus on climate change; critical and emerging technologies, including working to set technology standards and norms and jointly developing some of the critical technologies of the future, officials said.
The summit has finalised a landmark initiative under which huge investments will be made in India to create additional production capacities to roll out a billion coronavirus vaccine doses by 2022 for exports to the Indo-Pacific region.
The four leaders are scheduled to meet in person later this year, reported PTI.
The evolving situation in the Indo-Pacific region in the wake of China's increasing military muscle-flexing has become a major talking point among leading global powers.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas.
Both maritime areas in the South and East China seas are rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are also vital to global trade.
A protestor is detained by the police during a demonstration against the proposed site of the new Chinese Embassy, outside Royal Mint Court, in London. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso. 
