Biden to host summit of Quad countries this year

New Delhi, July 07: US President Joe Biden is likely to host a summit with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan this year, White House coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday.

"You will see our cooperation later this year when the president Biden hosts the Quad leaders in Washington. You'll see some commitments," Campbell said at an online event hosted by the Asia Society group.

The first virtual meeting of Quad leaders on March 12 was hosted by US President Joe Biden. It was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

"With all leaders in attendance, we will ensure that we''ve taken the necessary steps on the vaccine deliverable," Campbell said.

"We intend to build on that. We want to do something constructive with respect to infrastructure. We are going to take some other steps to build out the Quad to ensure that as an unofficial gathering, it still is a defining feature of modern diplomacy linking these key maritime democracies in a way that is deeply consequential for the 21st century," he said.

Quad - comprising Japan, India, Australia and the United States - is not an alliance but a grouping of countries driven by shared interests and values and interested in strengthening a rules-based order in the strategically-important Indo-Pacific region.