India to play a crucial role in developing a resilient Supply Chain in the Indo-Pacific region.

In a significant milestone, India and 13 other Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) partners have established three supply chain bodies under the landmark Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Agreement relating to Supply Chain Resilience. The inaugural virtual meetings of the Supply Chain Council (SCC), Crisis Response Network (CRN), and Labor Rights Advisory Board (LRAB) marked a major step forward for cooperation among partner countries for strengthening supply chain resilience in the region.

Through these inaugural meetings, 14 IPEF partners reaffirmed their commitments and collective resolve to facilitate closer cooperation to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of critical supply chains and better prepare for and respond to supply chain disruptions that pose a risk to economic prosperity while strengthening labor rights.

The first-of-its-kind IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement was signed by the Union Minister Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal along with the Ministers from other IPEF partner countries in November 2023 in Washington D.C. with an objective to make IPEF supply chains more resilient, robust, and well-integrated, and contribute towards economic development and progress of the Indo-Pacific region as a whole. The Agreement was ratified in February 2024 and is inforce since then. On earlier occasion, Minister Goyal has highlighted India’s global production capacities in many critical sectors, which provide supply diversification opportunities for IPEF partners.

Earlier in June 2024, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Sunil Barthwal, at the IPEF Ministerial meeting held in Singapore, highlighted that India, with its skilled manpower, natural resources, and policy support, aims to become a major player in the global supply chain.  Government initiatives are proactive in finding solutions and ensuring India’s participation in diverse and predictable supply chains.

Pursuant to the Supply Chain Agreement, the IPEF partners established three supply chain bodies – a Supply Chain Council to pursue targeted, action-oriented work to strengthen the supply chains for those sectors and goods most critical to national security, public health, and economic well-being; a Crisis Response Network to provide a forum for a collective emergency response to exigent or imminent disruptions; and a Labor Rights Advisory Board that brings together workers, employers, and governments at the same table to strengthen labor rights and workforce development across regional supply chains.

India shared its views on the importance of a resilient supply chain network and the ongoing consultations with stakeholders on sectors that are critical to it from the perspective of national security, public health and economic well-being. India also emphasised on the need for collaboration in skill development sector. It was stressed that identifying gaps and ensuring the right skills across our economies will be a priority, including technical assistance for workforce development and digitalization for a resilient supply chain ecosystem.

During the meetings, each of the three supply chain bodies elected a Chair and Vice Chair, who will serve for a term of two years. The elected chairs and vice chairs are:

• Supply Chain Council: USA (Chair) and India (Vice Chair)
• Crisis Response Network: Republic of Korea (Chair) and Japan (Vice Chair)
• Labor Rights Advisory Board: USA (Chair) and Fiji (Vice Chair)

The Supply Chain Council adopted Terms of Reference and discussed initial work priorities, to be further explored at its first in-person meeting to be held in Washington, D.C. in September 2024 on the margins of Supply Chain Summit. The Crisis Response Network discussed near and longer-term priorities, including conducting a table top exercise, and planned its first in-person meeting to be held alongside with the Supply Chain Summit.The Labor Rights Advisory Board discussed priorities on strengthening labor rights across IPEF supply chains. The convening not only will advance the work of the Labor Rights Advisory Board, but also focus on the labor provisions in the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement and Fair Economy Agreement.

The IPEF partners also underscored the significance of the upcoming in-person meeting to be held in Washington, D.C. in September 2024 on the margins of a Supply Chain Summit.

About IPEF : IPEF was launched on 23 May 2022 at Tokyo, Japan, comprising of 14 countries – Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and USA. The IPEF seeks to strengthen economic engagement and cooperation among partner countries with the goal of advancing growth, economic stability and prosperity in the region. The framework is structured around four pillars relating to Trade (Pillar I); Supply Chain Resilience (Pillar II); Clean Economy (Pillar III); and Fair Economy (Pillar IV). India had joined Pillars II to IV of IPEF while it has maintained an observer status in Pillar-I.

Supply Chain Resilience: India elected Vice Chair of the Supply Chain Council to advance regional cooperation and workforce strengthening. Fourteen IPEF partners established a Supply Chain Council, Crisis Response Network, and Labor Rights Advisory Board under the IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement to strengthen critical supply chains, coordinate collective emergency responses, and advance labor rights and workforce development. Governance arrangements include two year Chairs and Vice Chairs (Supply Chain Council: Chair USA, Vice Chair India) and adoption of Terms of Reference and initial work priorities, with planned in person meetings to progress action oriented workstreams on resilience, contingency planning, and labour provisions.