NEW DELHI, 11 February 2022, (TON): Australia is set to host India, Japan and the United States for the fourth Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Melbourne on Friday and the top diplomats are seeking to bolster cooperation in areas including economy, security, coronavirus pandemic and free and open Indo-Pacific.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a partnership of Australia, India, Japan and the US, each of whom shares a commitment to openness and transparency and challenges posed by China and the situation in Ukraine

This is the first time Quad Foreign Ministers are meeting since the two Quad Summits last year.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne will be joining Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa, and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the positive and ambitious agenda of the Quad.

They will be discussing ongoing Quad cooperation in their bilateral phone calls and meetings.

Since there is a robust bilateral cooperation between the four countries, they are building on their institutional linkages to further Quad cooperation in areas such as healthcare, infrastructure, space, education etc.