Biden will host ‘Quad’ leaders in Delaware hometown for final summit of presidency

The president will host Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan in Delaware next week

The ‘Quad’ security dialogue consists of Australia, India, Japan and the United States (ZHANG Xiaoyu)

President Joe Biden will host the fourth in-person gathering of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue heads of state and government in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware next week, capping off four years of diplomacy that has seen him expand security ties with the three major Indo-Pacific nations that participate.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would welcome Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan to Wilmington on Saturday, September 21 for Biden’s first — and most likely only — time at hosting foreign leaders at his home during official business.

Jean-Pierre said the move is “a reflection of his deep personal relationships with each of the Quad leaders, and the importance of the Quad to all of our countries.”

“The Biden-Harris administration has made elevating and institutionalizing the Quad a top priority, from the first-ever Quad Leaders Summit at the White House in 2021, to annual summits since then. In recent years, Quad Foreign Ministers have met eight times, and Quad governments continue to meet and coordinate at all levels,” she said. 

She added that the summit would “focus on bolstering the strategic convergence among our countries, advancing our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and delivering concrete benefits for partners in the Indo-Pacific in key areas” such as “health security, natural disaster response, maritime security, high-quality infrastructure, critical and emerging technology, climate and clean energy, and cybersecurity.”

The four-country dialogue dates back to 2007, when it was initiated by then-Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US Vice President Dick Cheney.

It was revived in 2017 at that year’s ASEAN summit, when Abe, then-Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and US President Donald Trump agreed to restart the alliance as a counterweight to growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Since then, the US has deepened defensive cooperation with each of the countries, including through the AUKUS agreement to provide Australia with nuclear-powered, conventionally armed submarines using American and British technology.

Biden’s decision to host the summit in Wilmington continues a long tradition of US presidents using their homes as a tool for personal diplomacy.

Trump famously hosted Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, at his Palm Beach, Florida home early on during his presidency, and then-president George W Bush used his Crawford, Texas ranch as a venue for his first summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin.