Australia-India-Japan-US Quad to build a port, unveil pact on critical minerals

The foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the US agreed to jointly build a port in Fiji and signed pacts covering critical minerals and energy security, as they sought to inject fresh energy into the grouping.

The brief meeting between the countries’ top diplomats — Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s S Jaishankar, Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio — was the third such gathering of the group known as Quad since September 2024.

The Quad meeting came as the US and Iran have been circling around a possible deal to end their three-month conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The group unveiled its first joint infrastructure project, a port in Fiji.

“We are going to be partnering on issues of port infrastructure, in particular in response to insufficient port capacity in the Pacific Islands, we are announcing plans to work with Fiji,” Rubio said, adding that the initiative would be “a practical demonstration of our collective ability to deliver high-quality, resilient infrastructure”,

The four-nation group had lost some momentum last year after failing to hold a leaders’ summit, amid tensions between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Washington’s tariffs and other matters.

“We are beginning to show real achievements and real accomplishments,” Rubio said.

“We are deeply committed to this partnership. It is a linchpin and a cornerstone of our global strategy as a nation in the US.”

He said the group agreed to launch an initiative on Indo-Pacific Energy Security and a critical minerals framework.

The minerals framework will guide how to leverage economic policy tools and coordinate investment to strengthen critical minerals supply chains — including in mining and processing — and in critical minerals recycling, Rubio said.

The initiative could be significant for Japan after China halted shipments of some minerals used in aerospace, defence and semiconductor industries following a diplomatic dispute.

Previous Quad meetings have put forward initiatives to maintain “the free and open maritime order” in the Indo-Pacific by improving information gathering on what is happening in their waters.

Leaders’ summit

New Delhi has pressed for a Trump visit to India, a trip that would likely be tied to a Quad summit. Analysts have questioned whether a lack of leader-level engagement has downgraded the Quad’s importance.

Foreign ministers did not comment on the possibility of a summit later this year, but over the weekend, Rubio said that diplomats would work toward a meeting later this year.

“The absence of a leaders’ summit has raised some doubts, but that does not necessarily indicate declining importance,” said Premesha Saha, a senior policy fellow at the Asia Society Australia in Melbourne.

“If the Quad can keep delivering at the ministerial and working levels, it can remain relevant even without regular leaders-level signalling.”

The Quad countries share concerns about China’s growing power and Rubio — who arrived in India on Saturday for a four-day visit aimed at shoring up relations with New Delhi — has stressed the importance of maintaining a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Beijing has criticised the Quad as a Cold War-style construct aimed at containing its development.

India, too, has territorial disputes with China, though Modi had signalled a willingness to improve ties with Beijing amid his tensions with Trump.