14 IPEF nations agree to strengthen supply chains, cut reliance on China

In a clear bid to reduce their reliance on China, and meet future supply chain crises, 14 participant countries in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), including the United States (US) and India, have struck a deal on supply chain resilience and diversification through information-sharing and coordinated crisis response.

At the second in-person ministerial meeting of IPEF countries in Detroit this weekend, the grouping agreed to set up an IPEF supply chain council, supply chain crisis response network and labour rights advisory network, according to a statement put out by the group.

IPEF also outlined the progress on the trade, clean economy and fair economy pillars of the framework. Under the clean economy framework, interested members have agreed to set up a regional hydrogen initiative.

India has joined three of the four pillars of IPEF, while remaining an observer in the trade pillar. At the ministerial, minister for industry and commerce Piyush Goyal represented New Delhi virtually. Goyal tweeted, “Reiterated India’s commitment towards building resilient supply chains and a clean & fair economy to spur further growth in the region.”

Announcing the deal, the US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo tweeted that she was glad to announce that IPEF had substantially concluded negotiations on a “first-of-its-kind” supply chain agreement. “It’s a big deal — and the first time there will be an international agreement on supply chains that brings together 14 partners across the Indo-Pacific.”

The deal has to be translated into a final text and then is subject to the domestic approval processes in each country. Besides the US and India, IPEF members include Australia, Brunei, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

In a statement, IPEF members said that the deal on supply chains aimed to increase the “resilience, efficiency, productivity, sustainability, transparency, diversification, security, fairness, and inclusivity of their supply chains” through both collaborative activities and individual actions by each state.

Source ANI