Next official Quad meeting in Bangkok next week: US state department

The US state department on Friday said the next official meeting of the Quad countries -- India, Japan, Australia, and the US -- will take place in Bangkok next week on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit and the Indo-Pacific Business Forum. US Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells, who is scheduled to visit Thailand and Bangladesh from November 1 to 7, will lead the American delegation at the Quad talks.

In Bangkok, Wells will hold bilateral meetings with regional partners and also participate in a session of the US-Australia-India-Japan Quad, the state department said. The meeting will be the first since the foreign ministers of the four countries met on September 26 on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly session in New York in September.

The US had described the meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne as historic. The meeting was aimed at deepening the cooperation between the four countries to advance openness and economic prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

"They met to discuss collective efforts and our shared commitment to close cooperation on counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief, maritime security cooperation, development finance, and cybersecurity efforts," a senior state department official told reporters in New York after the first Quad meeting of the four foreign ministers. "These consultations provide a valuable opportunity to coordinate our efforts to further our shared visions for the Indo-Pacific region," the official said.

In Bangladesh, Wells will meet senior government officials and civil society leaders. In Cox's Bazar, she will meet Bangladeshi officials and representatives from international and non-governmental organizations to discuss US humanitarian assistance and observe the conditions of refugees and host communities, the state department said.

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