WASHINGTON, Oct 31 (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host a meeting with the foreign ministers of Australia, India and Japan on Saturday, their third meeting this year, as plans take shape for a summit of the leaders of the four countries in Manila next month.
The leaders’ summit, slated to occur during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference in the Philippine capital November 15-18, will be the first since 2024, and the first for US President Donald Trump.
The first formal leaders’ summits of the four countries known as the Quad did not begin until President Joe Biden took office in 2021. Trump was scheduled to attend a Quad summit in India in late 2025, but canceled the visit due to trade frictions and tariff disputes with New Delhi.
After the Quad ministers’ meeting, Rubio will wrap up a two-day meeting of the Group of 20 major economies being held in Atlanta, after which he has invited the ministers to watch a college football game, according to the State Department schedule.
Rubio’s elder son, Anthony, is a running back for the University of Florida, which will be squaring off against the higher-ranked University of Georgia team.
Rubio, speaking at a reception at the Georgia Aquarium on Friday evening, repeated his call for G20 members to cooperate where possible given today’s complex economic and geopolitical challenges, including many with serious global consequences.
“Because we all face these challenges, we must all work together to address them,” he said. “The future of our nations depend on our willingness to understand that while our interests may not always align, we should always seek to work together to advance them when and where they do align.”
Friday’s meeting revealed deep rifts in the G20 over the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, with organizers nixing a traditional family photo after some European members refused to be photographed with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Rubio, who will hold a press conference after the meetings conclude on Saturday, said he hoped the G20 foreign ministers could lay the groundwork for a successful leaders’ summit December 14-15 at Trump’s Doral golf resort.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Tom Hogue)
