Quad Nations to Work More Closely in Maritime Domain Awareness

Washington, Sept. 21 (Jiji Press)--Leaders from the Quad nations of Japan, the United States, Australia and India will agree to reinforce cooperation in maritime domain awareness, or MDA, operations in their meeting Saturday, a senior U.S. official has said.

They will release a joint statement after the meeting.

From next year, coast guard staff of Japan, India and Australia will be on a patrol ship of the U.S. Coast Guard in the Indo-Pacific region for some time to monitor vessels that operate unlawful fishing. The aim is to mutually check law enforcement activity on the sea and boost cooperation.

The ship to be boarded by coast guard staff will be rotated among the four countries.

In the meeting, the Quad leaders will discuss MDA training for South Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific island nations, humanitarian support, disaster relief activity, human resource interaction and communications network improvement. They will also talk about expanding the area of the MDA activity to newly include the Indian Ocean.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]