IPEF elects India as vice-chair of supply chain council

New Delhi: India has been elected as vice-chair of the supply chain council -- one of the three bodies set up by the 14-member IPEF bloc -- the commerce ministry said on Wednesday.

India and 13 other Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) partners have established three bodies under the IPEF's agreement on supply chain resilience. The pact came into force in February this year.

The inaugural virtual meetings of the Supply Chain Council (SCC), Crisis Response Network (CRN), and Labor Rights Advisory Board (LRAB) marked a step forward for cooperation among partner countries for strengthening supply chain resilience in the region, the ministry said.

The agreement will help mitigate risks of economic disruptions from supply chain shocks and improve crisis coordination. It will also help member countries like India to reduce their dependence on China and provide timely information to the IPEF member countries about potential supply disruptions.

It added that the council was set up 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.

Similarly, the Crisis Response Network would provide a forum for a collective emergency response to exigent or imminent disruptions; and the board would bring together workers, employers, and governments at the same table to strengthen labour rights and workforce development across regional supply chains.

"During meetings, each of the three supply chain bodies elected a Chair and Vice Chair, who will serve for a term of two years," it said, adding that the US is chair of the council and the board: while Korea and Japan will be chair and vice chair for the network.

Fiji is the vice-chair for the labour board.

It added that 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 in September 2024 on the margins of the Supply Chain Summit.

The crisis response network discussed priorities, including conducting a tabletop exercise, and planned its first in-person meeting to be held alongside with the summit.

"The Labor Rights Advisory Board discussed priorities on strengthening labour rights across IPEF supply chains," it said.

IPEF was launched on May 23, 2022 in Tokyo. The members are Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the US.

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.