NEW DELHI (Reuters) -The Quad group of countries is important for India and Japan for issues including critical minerals, India’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday, adding that the prime ministers of the two countries would discuss the grouping this week.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to visit Japan on August 29-30 for the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit during which he will hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba.
Modi will then fly to the Chinese port city of Tianjin for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on August 31-September 1.
The so-called Quad grouping includes India, Japan, Australia and the U.S. and New Delhi is expected to host the summit of its leaders this year amid a souring of its ties with Washington over tariffs imposed on Indian goods by President Donald Trump.
The Quad countries share concerns about China’s growing power and dominance over critical minerals, and had announced a critical minerals initiative last month in an effort to counter Beijing.
“Quad is indeed an important platform for working on and promoting peace, stability, prosperity and development in the Indo-Pacific region,” Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters on Tuesday.
“In more recent years, its agenda has expanded to take on issues of practical cooperation,” he said, adding that India expects to launch several new initiatives with Japan including in defence, ship maintenance and space.
Modi’s visit to China will be his first to the country in more than seven years and comes as the neighbours look to rebuild ties, which deteriorated sharply after a deadly military clash on their disputed Himalayan border in 2020.
Modi is also expected to hold some bilateral meetings during his visit, the foreign ministry said but did not give details.
More than 20 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, will attend the SCO summit.
The Security-focused SCO began as a group of six Eurasian nations but has expanded to 10 permanent members and 16 dialogue and observer countries in recent years.
Its remit has also enlarged from security and counter-terrorism to economic and military cooperation.
(Reporting by Krishna Das, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh)
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