The top diplomats of the US, Japan, Australia, and India are eyeing a meeting in New Delhi later this month, with steps to reduce reliance on China for critical minerals likely to be on the agenda, Japanese media reported on Saturday.
It would mark the first foreign ministers' meeting of the so-called Quad grouping since last July, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.
The four countries had planned to convene a meeting of their leaders in India last fall, but it was postponed due to strained relations between the US and India, in addition to President Donald Trump's lack of interest in tackling global and regional challenges multilaterally.
It remains unclear whether the planned ministerial meeting will lead to a Quad summit later this year.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to attend the meeting.
"Looking forward to welcoming my good friend Secretary Rubio to India ... See you soon," Washington's Ambassador to India Sergio Gor wrote on social media.
At its previous meeting, the group agreed to deepen cooperation on critical minerals, amid China’s dominant role in supplying rare earth elements essential to modern technologies.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, commonly referred to as Quad, is a grouping of Australia, the US, Japan, and India focused on cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.
