quad: Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday that NATO is a “cold war term” while Quad is the “way forward”.

“Quad is a platform where 4 countries have come to cooperate for their good and the good of the world. I think a term like NATO is a cold war term, looking back. Quad looks to the future . It reflects globalization and the compulsion of countries to work together, ”J Jaishankar said when responding to a question on China referring to Quad as“ Asian NATO ”following the 2 + 2 ministerial meeting of India and Australia here on Saturday.

Referring to various areas of cooperation between Quad nations, Jaishankar spoke out against the misinterpretation of reality and said that there was no relationship between the term NATO and Quad.

“If you look at the issues that Quad has focused on today, like vaccines, supply chains, I don’t see any relationship with NATO or any other organization. I think it’s important not to not distort reality, ”he said.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said “Jaishankar has explained and articulated the response extremely well.”

“As Australia and India have re-energized their relationship, it is also possible to work with smaller groups like the Quad and other elements of regional architecture like the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN regional forum. ”

She said Quad members are champions of ASEAN centrality and actively engage in this regional architecture. “We have a positive and practical agenda, as Minister Jaishanakar mentioned a number of these initiatives around vaccines, climate and critical technologies.”