The foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the US agreed on Tuesday to jointly build a port in Fiji and signed pacts covering critical minerals and energy security, as they sought to inject fresh energy into their grouping known as the Quad.The brief meeting between the countries' top diplomats – Australia's Penny Wong, India's S. Jaishankar, Japan's Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – was the third such gathering of the Quad since September 2024.
The group unveiled its first joint infrastructure project, a port in Fiji.
"We are going to be partnering on issues of port infrastructure, in particular in response to insufficient port capacity in the Pacific Islands, we are announcing plans to work with Fiji," Rubio said.
The four-nation group had lost some momentum last year after failing to hold a leaders' summit, amid tensions between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Washington's tariffs and other matters.
"We are beginning to show real achievements and real accomplishments," Rubio said. "We are deeply committed to this partnership. It is a linchpin and a cornerstone of our global strategy as a nation in the United States."
