WASHINGTON: A senior US government official said Wednesday he hopes that Japan, the United States, Australia and India will hold an in-person meeting this autumn.

“I think we want to look this fall to convene an in-person Quad,” Kurt Campbell, coordinator of Indo-Pacific affairs at the US National Security Council, said at an online event.

The first summit under the four countries’ “Quad” framework was held online in March. 

The leaders from the four countries confirmed that they will help developing nations secure novel coronavirus vaccines and agreed to talk face-to-face by the end of this year.

“The hope will be to make a similar kind of engagement on infrastructure more generally,” Campbell said, apparently having in mind China’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure development initiative.

“If there are other countries that believe that they’d like to engage and work with us, the door will be open as we go forward,” he said.

JIJI Press