Quad Foreign Ministers Meet in New Delhi to Revive Stalled Summit and Boost Indo-Pacific Cooperation

Foreign ministers of the Quad member countries gathered in New Delhi on 26 May 2026 for a key meeting, with a focus on advancing cooperation to keep the Indo-Pacific region free and secure. The Quad is a grouping of four democracies — India, the United States, Japan and Australia. India's External Affairs Minister hosted his counterparts: the foreign ministers of Australia and Japan and the US Secretary of State. This was the first Quad foreign ministers' meeting in almost a year.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty, including a conflict in West Asia that has disrupted energy supplies for several countries. Ahead of the Quad meeting, India and Japan held bilateral talks to review cooperation on economic security and to discuss regional and global developments. Both noted their shared interest in stability, given that they are major energy-importing and trading nations with significant maritime interests, and pointed to Japan's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" approach.

A key item on the agenda was reviving the Quad Leaders' Summit. The last leaders' summit was held in the United States in September 2024, and a summit that India had planned to host could not take place as scheduled. The four ministers sought to inject fresh momentum into the grouping's activities, which span maritime security, critical minerals supply chains, infrastructure development and disaster relief. India also held a separate Australia-India foreign ministers' dialogue to deepen cooperation in trade, investment, defence, maritime security, technology, the climate transition, and education and skills.

The Quad is significant for India's foreign policy as a platform for cooperation among "maritime democracies" committed to upholding international law and a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific. India last hosted a Quad foreign ministers' meeting in 2023, and the ministers most recently met in Washington in July 2025. Convening the next leaders' summit is expected to be one of the central outcomes the ministers work towards.