Foreign ministers of the Quad nations are expected to convene in Australia in February for a meeting. According to a report by news agency Reuters, US secretary of state Antony Blinken is expected to travel to Australia in February to meet the foreign ministers of India, Japan and Australia - the member nations of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad).

The report further said that it will be a two-day summit. Australian foreign minister Marise Payne did not mention when the meeting will take place. People familiar with the developments told Reuters that Australian authorities are looking forward to union foreign minister S Jaishankar’s recovery from Covid-19 to decide on the dates. Jaishankar is recovering from Covid and tested positive on January 27.

“We are a vital network of liberal democracies cooperating to give our region strategic choices, with a focus on practical steps to build the resilience and sovereignty of all states,” Payne said in a statement.

The meeting of the Quad foreign ministers comes as the US relations’ with China and Russia are at an all-time low. The recent developments in the South China Sea will focus along with North Korea’s recent surge in ballistic missile tests.

Earlier when US president Joe Biden and Japan prime minister Fumio Kishida met in January, Biden welcomed Kishida’s invitation to hold a Quad Leaders’ Summit during his visit to Japan in late spring. Dates for that meeting are yet to be announced, if held it would be the second in-person meeting of Quad leaders.