The leaders of the countries of the Quadripartite Security Dialogue (QUAD: Australia, India, USA and Japan) have agreed to work together to fight cyber threats and share data from satellites for peaceful purposes. This is stated in a joint statement published on the White House website on Friday, September 24.
“Building on many years of cybersecurity cooperation between our four countries, QUAD will embark on renewed efforts to increase the resilience of critical infrastructure to cyber threats by combining our countries’ expertise to implement national and international best practices,” the text says.
For this, the parties agreed to hold regular meetings at the expert level. Among the main tasks are the adoption and implementation of common cyber standards and the development of secure software.
With regard to cooperation in the space sphere, the countries of the Quartet will exchange satellite data focused on monitoring and adapting climate change, as well as for preventing natural disasters.
“We will also consult on norms, principles and rules to ensure the long-term sustainability of the space environment,” the communiqué says.
The QUAD leaders’ meeting was held in Washington on 24 September. It discussed the fight against coronavirus, climate change, new technologies, space, clean energy, humanitarian relations. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also spoke about the attitude of India and Japan to the partnership between Washington, London and Canberra in the Indo-Pacific (AUKUS). According to him, AUKUS and QUAD complement and strengthen each other, and the heads of government of India and Japan received the news of the creation of a new alliance “warmly” because they understand “what this partnership means for the region.”
The Quadripartite Security Dialogue emerged in 2007.