US President Joe Biden is not expected to visit India next month as the Chief Guest for Republic Day celebrations. In September, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said PM Narendra Modi invited President Biden to be the Chief Guest for the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2024, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.
Separately, sources told PTI that the Quad summit is proposed to be held in India in the later part of 2024. Earlier, India was trying to schedule the next Quad Summit on January 27. The Quad bloc groups India, Australia, Japan and the US, which oversees overall cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
Now, India is looking to revise dates for the Quad Summit as the dates under consideration earlier do not work with all Quad partners, sources said. This means Biden, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are unlikely to travel to India around Republic Day as proposed by New Delhi.
"We are looking for revised dates as the dates currently under consideration do not work with all the Quad partners," said a source.
In May this year, PM Modi had announced at the Quad leaders’ meeting on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit in Japan in May that India would host the next Quad leaders’ summit.
So far, the US had not committed Biden accepting India’s invitation to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade and attend the Quad Summit in January 2024. Besides, it was also reported that it was difficult for Alabanese to travel to India as Australian National Day that also coincides with the Indian Republic Day.
The last Quad summit was held in Hiroshima on May 20 on the sidelines of the G7 summit. The Quad summit was earlier scheduled to take place in Sydney on May 24. However, it was shifted to Hiroshima after Biden postponed his trip to Australia.
In the Hiroshima summit, the Quad leaders unveiled a 'Vision Statement' titled 'Enduring Partners for Indo-Pacific' expressing their resolve to act as a "force for good" to find common solutions for region-wide benefit.
In the next summit, the Quad leaders were expected to bolster overall cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, a region that has been witnessing growing Chinese military assertiveness.
Also read: Top Biden official in India to discuss alleged murder plot of Khalistani separatist leader Pannun
Also read: Vivek Ramaswamy challenges Nikki Haley to name three regions of Eastern Ukraine…it didn’t go well