समाचार Samāchār · World · 1 November 2026

The Quad in Atlanta: recycle the minerals, fund trusted AI, call out coercion

Foreign ministers of India, the US, Japan and Australia met on the sidelines of the G20 in Atlanta. They pledged over $85 million for trusted AI and backed recovering critical minerals from e-waste in India and ASEAN.

The Quad has moved from statements to supply chains. Foreign ministers of India, the United States, Japan and Australia met in Atlanta on 31 October, on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar sat with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi and Australia’s Penny Wong. It was the third Quad ministerial this year, after New Delhi and Manila.

Three outcomes matter for India. First, the ministers pledged over $85 million in technical and financial assistance for access to trusted AI across the Indo-Pacific, part of it through the Quad AI Accelerator. Second, they backed recovering critical minerals from e-waste and scrap to cut dependence on any single supplier. The US committed $10 million to recovery facilities in India and ASEAN countries. Third, they launched the first Quad Business Leaders Forum. It meets in Tokyo on 18 December.

The statement voiced serious concern about economic coercion, arbitrary export restrictions and non-market practices that build overcapacity in critical industries. It named no country. Rubio told reporters the Quad is not an anti-China or anti-any-country alliance. Jaishankar set out the priorities as stability, prosperity and freedom of choice, with a more contemporary Quad agenda and a practical approach. The ministers also backed freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb. They credited India as first responder after the 26 August flash floods in Nepal.

Read it for what it means at home. India needs lithium, rare earths and cobalt for batteries, motors and chips. It also produces vast amounts of e-waste. Turning that waste into feedstock spreads trade risk and creates jobs in collection and processing. A trusted AI fund helps, but India’s answer must still be its own models and its own compute. The test now is projects on the ground before the Tokyo forum.

What a founder takes from it: Critical minerals from scrap is a business India can build now. Collection networks, processing plants and refining are where the partners want private money to go. Founders in e-waste and recycling should read this statement as a demand signal.