Quad to boost Indo-Pacific energy security with new joint forum

India, Australia, Japan, and the US will launch a 'Quad Fuel Security Forum' to ensure energy stability in the Indo-Pacific. The initiative aims to coordinate high-level discussions and facilitate cooperation to strengthen energy security.

India, Australia, Japan and the United States of America reiterated their commitment towards ensuring energy stability and security and announced their intention to convene a Quad Fuel Security Forum to coordinate high-level discussions and facilitate cooperation in these areas.

The details were shared by the Ministry of External Affairs in the Quad Statement on Indo-Pacific Energy Security. It said that the United States, Australia, India, and Japan will work to identify areas of cooperation for the Quad Initiative on Indo-Pacific Energy Security in technology, management, policy, international market analysis, and emergency response exercises through an engagement plan. To achieve this, the Quad will convene a Quad Fuel Security Forum to coordinate high-level discussions and facilitate cooperation, which would aim to recognise and leverage the unique resources and capabilities of each country's energy sector, including to strengthen their respective strategic petroleum systems.

Addressing Energy Market Vulnerabilities

"We recognise impacts of disruptions to global markets, particularly in relation to oil, gas, and petrochemical products as well as essential goods and critical downstream derivatives such as fertilisers, fall heavily on the Indo-Pacific region. Our leaders have expressed a clear collective intent to cooperate on energy security and resilience", the statement said.

Commitment to Secure Trade and Navigation

The Quad countries affirmed their support towards a strong commitment to ensuring well-functioning, stable, transparent, secure and resilient energy markets. They reinforced the importance of secure and uninterrupted trade flows, including the safety of navigation and the protection of critical maritime routes and infrastructure, as essential to global economic stability and energy security and underlined the importance of ensuring unimpeded freedom of navigation and uninterrupted flow of global commerce, including in the Strait of Hormuz, and opposing any restrictive measures hampering the flow of commercial vessels.

Strengthening Regional Resilience

The Quad members highlighted the importance of regional initiatives to strengthen energy resilience, such as Japan's Partnership On Wide Energy and Resources Resilience (POWERR Asia),India's support to energy security in South Asia and Australia's support to energy security in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including through the $2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility, Australian Development Investments and support for the ASEAN Power Grid, as well as financial assistance to Pacific island countries (including AUD30 million in budget support to Fiji).

Call for Broader Cooperation

The member countries noted the need to cooperate across the entire energy value chain, including the contribution of diversification to energy security and also acknowledged the specific energy security vulnerabilities for small-island developing countries, such as in the Pacific.

In times of significant energy market volatility and disruptions, the members encouraged all energy market participants, including producing, transit, and consuming countries, to maintain transparent and open energy markets to ensure the stable availability of energy products across the Indo-Pacific region. (ANI)

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