Quad Leaders’ Virtual Summit – 12 March 21

Quad leaders held a first-ever virtual summit on 12 March 21 They discussed regional and global issues of shared interest, and exchanged views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The following emerged from the Quad summit.

The Quad Vaccine Partnership

Quad leaders decided to launch a landmark partnership to further accelerate the vaccine drive in the Indo-Pacific in close coordination within the existing multilateral mechanisms including WHO and COVAX. The leaders declared that there would be multi-sectorial cooperation across many stages of action, starting with ensuring global availability of safe and effective vaccines.

Financing and logistical requirements for vaccine drive:

Financing and logistical demands for production, procurement, and delivery of safe and effective vaccines will be done through institutions like the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC).

The United States, through the DFC, will work with Biological E Ltd., to finance increased capacity to support its effort to produce at least 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2022 with Stringent Regulatory Authorization (SRA) and World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL), including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Japan, through JICA, is in discussions to provide concessional yen loans for the Government of India to expand manufacturing for Covid-19 vaccines for export, with a priority on producing vaccines that have received authorization from WHO Emergency.

Quad partners will ensure expanded manufacturing for global benefit, to be procured through key multilateral initiatives, such as COVAX, that provide life-saving vaccines for low-income countries.

Cooperation will also be strengthen for the last-mile vaccination, building on existing health-security and development programs, and to coordinate and strengthen programs in the Indo-Pacific. This includes supporting countries with vaccine readiness and delivery, vaccine procurement, health workforce preparedness, responses to vaccine misinformation, community engagement, immunization capacity etc.

Responsibilities to be taken up by respective countries

1. Australia will contribute US$77 million for the provision of vaccines and “last-mile” delivery support with a focus on Southeast Asia, in addition to its existing commitment of US$407 million for regional vaccine access and health security which will provide full vaccine coverage to nine Pacific Island countries and Timor-Leste, and support procurement, prepare for vaccine delivery, and strengthen health systems in Southeast Asia.
2. Japan will assist vaccination programs of developing countries such as the purchase of vaccines and cold-chain support including through provision of grant aid of $41 million and new concessional yen loans, ensuring alignment with and support of COVAX.
3. The United States will leverage existing programs to further boost vaccination capability, drawing on at least $100 million in regional efforts focused on immunization.
4. India to offer enhanced capacity for vaccine production.

A control group comprising of top scientists and officials from different governments has been constituted to support Quad cooperation in the long term, and use science to:

1. Design and implementation plan for the Quad COVID-19 vaccine effort;
2. Identify hurdles impeding vaccine administration in the region;
3. Work with financers and production facilities to monitor timely and sufficient capacity expansion that will lead to wider distribution of safe and effective vaccines;
4. Share governmental plans to support Indo-Pacific health security and Covid-19 response, and identify practical cooperation on “last-mile” delivery for hard-to-reach communities in need;
5. Strengthen and support the life-saving work of international organizations, including the WHO, COVAX, Gavi, CEPI, UNICEF, the G7, ASEAN, and governments, and call on other countries to do the same;
6. Make additional concrete recommendations before the end of the year.

The Quad Climate Working Group

It was decided to establish a working group for Quad and the Indo-Pacific region to the following:

1. Cooperation, both among quad countries and with other countries, to strengthen implementation of the Paris Agreement, including to keep a Paris-aligned temperature limit within reach;
2. Working together and with other countries to support, strengthen, and enhance actions globally;
3. Committing to advancing low-emissions technology solutions to support emissions reduction;
4. Cooperation on climate mitigation, adaptation, resilience, technology, capacity-building, and climate finance.

The Quad Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group

It was decided to convene a Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group, which will:

1. Develop a statement of principles on technology design, development, and use;
2. Facilitate coordination on technology standards development, including between national technology standards bodies and working with a broad range of partners;
3. Encourage cooperation on telecommunications deployment, diversification of equipment suppliers, and future telecommunications, including through close cooperation with private sectors and industry;
4. Facilitate cooperation to monitor trends and opportunities related to developments in critical and emerging technology, including biotechnology;
5. Convene dialogues on critical technology supply chains