India eyes overdue Quad meeting ahead of Marco Rubio's visit to Delhi

INdia is exploring the possibleness of convening a get together of space strange ministers in young Delhi tied to the visit of US secretary of state Marco Rubio next month to spur the activities of the grouping and to plan for a much-delayed summit, people familiar with the matter said.Rubio is expected to be in New Delhi late next month and the Indian side has sounded out the two other members of Quad – Australia and Japan – about holding a Quad foreign ministers’ meeting around May 26, the people familiar with these conversations said on condition of anonymity.Following a meeting between Rubio and foreign secretary Vikram Misri in Washington, US ambassador Sergio Gor said in a social media post on Friday that the secretary of state “looks forward to visiting India next month”. He did not give further details.External affairs minister S Jaishankar spoke to his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi on Friday and discussed developments in West Asia as part of the continuing contacts between the two sides.While the Japanese side has signalled that foreign minister Motegi would be available for the Quad meeting, there has been no firm indication from the Australian side about its participation, the people said. The people acknowledged that the West Asia conflict had affected planning for the meeting but said the two-week truce between Iran and the US has brightened the chances for it to be held. The Indian and Japanese sides are keen to take forward the process of Quad meetings to signal the grouping’s continued relevance, especially in the Indo-Pacific region amid China’s assertive posture, the people said. “It’s not so much about outcomes as even the holding of a foreign ministers’ meeting will be a signal,” one of the people said. While several Quad working groups have continued their work in areas ranging from supply chains to technology and counter-terrorism, there have been no meetings of the senior leadership since July 2025, when the Quad foreign ministers last assembled in Washington.The Quad leaders summit, which is to be hosted by India, has been delayed for months and there is still no clear timeframe for holding it, the people said. A joint statement issued after the last Quad foreign ministers’ meet in July 2025 had even said that the next such meeting would be “hosted by Australia in 2026”.The other members of the grouping have also been frustrated by signals from sections of the US administration that Washington is more focused on results in areas such as maritime security and supply chain resilience than the platforms used to secure such results, the people said.