Thank you, Tony for bringing us together. And I join Penny in conveying our condolences. I think, this is a particularly timely meeting because the world is going through a very difficult period. We've had a few years of the Quad, now the global repercussions of the Ukraine conflict. We are seeing climate events and emergencies probably on an unprecedented scale.
So, given the turbulent times, I think it's particularly important that we, the Quad go further in the constructive agenda that we have set for ourselves, that we work together on the delivery of public goods, that our efforts, and particularly what we are signing today, the HADR partnership, which we discussed and finalized in Tokyo is I think, extremely timely.
We've got other initiatives in the making, some a little further in the pipeline, like the STEM fellowship. We are working on the economic framework, though we have many other partners beyond Quad on that; on the maritime domain awareness. So, I completely concur with you. I think it's a great idea that we meet regularly on the sidelines of the UNGA, but in our respective countries as well. And today I think this is also an opportunity for us together to discuss how to strengthen the UN led multilateral system. Once again, thank you for convening the meeting.
New York
September 23, 2022
