Hoping for continued progress of Quad under India’s presidency in 2024: White House

White House: The White House has expressed hope that the four-nation Quad Alliance will continue the momentum of its past three years under India's presidency in 2024.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that given the achievements of the Quad in the past three years, the Biden administration is hoping for continued momentum in 2024 under India’s host year.

“The Quad is helping all of our nations deliver concrete benefits to the Indo-Pacific across several critical, important sectors,” Jean-Pierre said.

Quad is an alliance between the US, India, Japan, and Australia that has a shared vision of a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. 

“We look forward to continuing that progress for the Quad in 2024 — and not just in 2024 but, also, beyond,” the White House press secretary added.

The first Quad summit was held at the White House in March 2021. The annual summit of the QUAD countries is scheduled to be held in India this year. However, the date of the summit has not been announced yet.

Recently, the US House of Representatives passed the Quad Bill instructing the Biden administration to establish a Quad Intra-Parliamentary Working Group to facilitate closer cooperation between the US, Australia, India and Japan.

The emphasis of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) bill is to strengthen the cooperation between the US, Australia, India and Japan.

The Quad countries which primarily focus on working for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, has also first-of-its-kind scholarship program under its wing. 

Announced on September 24, 2021, the fellowship is designed to build ties among the next generation of scientists and technologists. 

Beginning in 2024, the fellowship will be administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE), a global not-for-profit organization that manages many of the world’s most prestigious scholarship and fellowship programs.

The Quad Fellowship sponsors exceptional master's and doctoral students to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the United States. 

The initiative supports students from the four Quad countries and expands this year to include sponsorship of students from the ASEAN countries.