Mike Pompeo 'looking forward' to visiting Tokyo for 'productive' QUAD meeting

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Japan, Mongolia, and South Korea next week. Department of State on September 29 anunced that Pompeo will participate in second meeting of Quad Foreign Ministers, of which US, Japan, Australia, and India are part of. Quad meeting will take place in Tokyo on October 6, where Pompeo will also meeting with his Japanese counterpart to discuss issues of mutual concerns. 

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four-day-long trip to East Asia will start on October 4 and is scheduled to end on October 8. Pompeo will visit Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar on October 7 and from re he will leave for Seoul, South Korea for meetings with senior officials. Secretary Pompeo will return to Washington, DC, on October 8. 

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Quad meeting is one of important highlights of Pompeo's trip as it comes amid heightened tensions between United States and China. Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) was set up in 2007 by n-US vice-president Dick Cheney, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Australian PM John Howard, and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. It was revived in 2017 to counter China's increasing ecomic and military might in region. 

Read: Pompeo To Participate In QUAD Ministerial Meet In Japan On October 6

Pompeo's Europe trip

Pompeo is currently in Europe, where he met leaders of Greece, Italy, and Croatia and discussed bilateral relationship, security among or things. In Greece, he particularly discussed escalation between Ans and Ankara over maritime reserves in eastern Mediterranean. In Croatia, leaders will discuss opportunities for closer cooperation between United States and Croatia in key areas of mutual concern, including defense cooperation, growing U.S.-Croatia investment relationship, and Croatia’s strong efforts to advance Western Balkan integration.

Read: US Strongly Supports Greece-Turkey Dialogue To Resolve Maritime Dispute: Pompeo

(Im Credit: AP)