Context
The Indian delegation attended the first in-Person meeting of the Supply Chain Council of the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF) for Prosperity held in Washington DC followed by the Crisis Response Network assembly.
Key highlights
- The Council established 3 Action Plan Teams pertaining to a few sectors, particularly Semiconductor; Critical Minerals with a focal point on batteries; and Chemicals.
- Also two sub-committees have been established for pass reducing issues.
- The Sub-committee on Logistics and Movement of Goods might facilitate efforts to enhance logistics services and logistics infrastructure inside the IPEF region.
- The Sub-committee on Data and Analytics could construct upon the paintings already undertaken through IPEF nations to change analytical approaches to supply chain exposures and risks.
Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF)
- IPEF was launched in 2022 at Tokyo, Japan, comprising 14 countries – Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and USA.
- The IPEF seeks to bolster economic engagement and cooperation among partner countries with the purpose of advancing boom, economic stability and prosperity within the region.
- The IPEF block together, debts for 40 percent of the arena’s economic output and 28 percent of trade.
- The framework is based around four pillars regarding;
- Trade (Pillar I);
- Supply Chain Resilience (Pillar II);
- Clean Economy (Pillar III); and
- Fair Economy (Pillar IV).
Supply Chain Resilience Agreement
- Supply Chain Resilience Agreement (Pillar II Agreement) underneath IPEF came into impact in 2024 to reinforce supply chains through economic engagement among accomplice countries.
- Under this Agreement, 3 institutional bodies had been created specifically,
- Supply Chain Council (SCC),
- Crisis Response Network (CRN) and
- The Labour Rights Advisory Board (LRAB).
Way Ahead
- The paradigm shift due to growth in technological advancements and demand for easy energy solutions has brought to the vanguard the crucial importance of securing a dependable supply of essential minerals.
- One of the important challenges lies in the supply danger on account of its attention and international market dynamics, which could result in price volatility and uncertainty leading to supply disruptions.
- Here India has an opportunity to consider members as alternative sources for its raw materials requirements. This could reduce India’s overdependence on China for those inputs.
Source: PIB