PM Modi, Biden to witness India joining IPEF's clean economy, fair economy pacts

New Delhi: India will on Saturday sign the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework’s Clean Economy and Fair Economy agreements, which the United States and 12 other nations inked earlier this year.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden will hold a bilateral meeting on the sideline of the fourth in-person Quad summit in Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday, India and the US will sign a Memorandum of Understanding for expanding cooperation in combating the trafficking of synthetic drugs, like fentanyl, tramadol, methamphetamine, captagon, MDMA, and ketamine.

India and the US joined 12 other nations in November 2023 to sign the Supply Chain Resilience Agreement of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). By signing the Clean Economy and Fair Economy agreements on Saturday, India will join three of the four pillars of the IPEF, which the US and 13 other nations launched in 2022 to counter the hegemonic aspirations of China.

New Delhi, however, will continue to opt out of the negotiation among the IPEF nations for an agreement on fair and resilient trade.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Thursday told journalists India would complete the process of signing the two IPEF agreements on Clean Economy and Fair Economy, in addition to signing an overarching agreement, outlining how the 14 nations would go forward.

The Agreement on Fair Economy intends to create a more transparent and predictable business environment, which can spur greater trade and investment in the markets of member countries; promote level playing field for businesses and workers in the economies of the IPEF partners; enhance efforts to prevent and combat corruption by strengthening anti-corruption frameworks, establishing confidential systems, and promote participation of groups outside public sector; support efforts to improve tax transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes between competent authorities, domestic resource mobilization, and tax administration; and support capacity building and to provide technical assistance to the IPEF partners, through sharing of expertise and best practices, development and application of technological innovations, and need-based collaboration with the private sector and other stakeholders.

The Agreement on Clean Economy to accelerate efforts of the IPEF partners towards energy security and transition, climate resilience and adaptation, and greenhouse gas emissions mitigation; find/develop innovative ways of reducing dependence on fossil fuel energy; promote technical cooperation, workforce development, capacity building, and research collaborations; and collaborate to facilitate development, access, and deployment of clean energy and climate-friendly technologies. This agreement will facilitate investments, concessional financing, joint collaborative projects, workforce development and Technical Assistance and Capacity Building for industries, in particular MSMEs, to further integrate the Indian companies in the value chains, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

These cooperative activities will be undertaken through joint collaborative actions such as Cooperative Work Programmes and the IPEF Catalytic Capital Fund.