• In a significant stride toward strengthening maritime security and interoperability in the Indo-Pacific, the Coast Guards of India, Japan, the United States and Australia have launched ‘Quad at Sea Ship Observer Mission’ under the Wilmington Declaration. 

• Two officers, including women officers from each country have embarked on board US Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, which is currently sailing to Guam.

• The cross-embarkation mission marks an unprecedented step in Quad Coast Guard collaboration, enhancing joint readiness, operational coordination, and domain awareness in support of a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based Indo-Pacific. 

• The initiative sets the foundation for a ‘Quad Coast Guard Handshake’, fostering stronger trust, coordination, and collective resilience amid evolving maritime challenges in the region.

• The mission reflects the vision laid out at the Quad Leaders’ Summit in September 2024 and signifies a deepening of operational ties between the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Japan Coast Guard (JCG), US Coast Guard (USCG), and Australian Border Force (ABF).

• India’s participation reinforces its strategic maritime vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and complements national efforts under the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), with an emphasis on capacity-building, humanitarian outreach, and maritime rule of law. 

What is Quad?

• The Quad, or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, is an informal grouping of four countries — Australia, India, Japan and the United States. 

• It is a diplomatic partnership of four countries committed to promoting stability, resilience and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. 

• The four countries came together 20 years ago to extend assistance in response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, and that coalition subsequently took form of the Quad.

• The 2024 tsunami was one of the worst disasters in history, claiming the lives of nearly a quarter million people and displacing 1.7 million across 14 countries.

• The four countries contributed over 40,000 emergency responders, working with other partners across the Indo-Pacific region to support millions of people affected by the catastrophe. 

• The Quad has since become a leading regional partnership dedicated to advancing a common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific through practical cooperation on diverse 21st-century challenges. 

• The foreign ministers of the four countries held their first meeting under the Quad framework in New York in September 2019.

• The first Leaders’ Summit of the Quad was held virtually in March 2021.

• The Quad recognises that international law, peace, and security in the maritime domain underpins the development and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific. 

• The countries are determined to deepen engagement with regional partners, including through capacity-building and technical assistance, to strengthen maritime domain awareness, protect their ability to develop offshore resources, consistent with  the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

• The Quad is exchanging information on ever-evolving threats and working with Indo-Pacific countries, and in multilateral fora, to counter all forms of terrorism and violent extremism.

• Quad partners champion the free, open, and inclusive rules-based order, rooted in international law, that protects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of regional countries.

• The Quad has been focusing on cooperation in areas such as producing vaccines, connectivity projects, facilitating the mobility of students and looking at promoting startups and technology collaboration.

• The Quad countries now work together and with partners across the Indo-Pacific to address complex challenges — from fighting climate change, cancer and pandemics, to bolstering quality infrastructure, counter-terrorism efforts, critical and emerging technologies, and cybersecurity.

• Since 2021, the leaders of the four nations have met annually to drive the Quad’s positive contributions across South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

• In the previous Quad Summit held in Wilmington in the US, top leaders of the grouping unveiled major steps to expand maritime security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

• They also called for rules-based global order that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations.

• India is scheduled to host the next Quad Summit that is likely to take place in the second half of 2025.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)