biden welcomed albanese to his first quad meeting and quipped about how the australian leader had to rush for the summit immediately after being sworninlike i said you got on a plane you were sworn in and got on a plane so if you fall asleep while youre here its ok because i dont know how youre doing it its really quite extraordinary just getting off the campaign trail as well biden saidwhat is quadformally the quadrilateral security dialogue the quad began as a loose partnership after the devastating 2004 indian ocean tsunami when the four countries joined together to provide humanitarian and disaster assistance to the affected region it was formalized by former japanese prime minister shinzo abe in 2007 but then fell dormant for nearly a decade particularly amid australian concerns that its participation in the group would irritate chinathe group was resurrected in 2017 reflecting changing attitudes in the region toward chinas growing influence both the trump and biden administrations saw the quad as key to a pivot toward placing more focus on the indopacific region particularly as a counterweight to chinas assertive actions the quad leaders held their first formal summit in 2021 and met again virtually in marchwith inputs from agencies