From China to coronavirus vaccine: Here are key takeaways from the historic Quad meeting

India on Friday joined Australia, Japan and the United States to elevate the Quad to the level of the Heads of Governments and to announce a partnership to provide Covid-19 vaccines all across Indo-Pacific – a region, where the four democracies want to counter growing influence and belligerence of China.

Here are the key takeaways from the historic meeting:

1. The Quad leaders, including US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday vowed to strive for a "free, open and inclusive" region unconstrained by "coercion” in an apparent reference to China.

2. "A free and open Indo Pacific is essential to each of our futures," Biden told the meeting from the White House. "The United States is committed to working with you, our partners, and all our allies in the region, to achieve stability."

Read | Quad leaders to strive for 'free, open, inclusive' Indo-Pacific region unconstrained by 'coercion'

3. The four leaders reaffirmed support for “rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful resolution of disputes, democratic values, and territorial integrity” in the region.

4. The Quad leaders pledged to respond to the economic and health impacts of Covid-19, combat climate change, and address shared challenges, including in cyberspace, critical technologies and counterterrorism.

5. The US Development Finance Cooperation will support the Biological E Limited based at Hyderabad in India to increase capacity to produce by the end of 2022 at least one billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including the one developed by Johnson & Johnson.

6. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide a concessional yen loan to the Government of India to expand the manufacturing of the Covid-19 vaccines for export.

8. "The Quad committed to delivering up to one billion doses to ASEAN, the Indo-Pacific and beyond by the end of 2022," Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan said.

7. "We will work together, closer than ever before, for advancing our shared values and promoting a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific," said PM Modi.

Read | Will work together, closer than ever before, says PM Modi as Quad nations turn focus to Covid-19 vaccine

8. Modi told the session the Quad had "come of age" and would "now remain an important pillar of stability in the region".

9. The Quad countries also reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearisation of North Korea in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and emphasised the urgent need to restore democracy in Myanmar and the priority of strengthening democratic resilience.

Though India, Australia, Japan and the US had first formally launched the Quad in 2007, it had failed to take off and fizzled out very soon. The four nations, however, re-launched the Quad in Manila in November 2017 to create a bulwark of democratic nations to counter expansionist moves of China in the Indo-Pacific region.

(With inputs from agencies)