The 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) for Prosperity was held on 14 November 2023 in San Francisco, California, hosted by the United States.
- Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Textiles and Commerce and Industry participated in this ministerial meeting from the Indian side.
- Union Minister Piyush Goyal was on a visit to San Francisco, USA from November 13-16 to attend the third ministerial meeting of IPEF.
Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF):
- IPEF is a US-led initiative that aims to strengthen the economic partnership among participating countries to enhance resilience, stability, inclusiveness, economic growth, equity, and competitiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
- IPEP was launched jointly by the United States and other partner countries in the Indo-Pacific region on May 23, 2022, in Tokyo.
- IPEP was initially launched with initial partners from 12 countries that collectively account for 40% of world GDP.
IPEF partner countries:
- IPEF's 14 partner countries include Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States.
IPEF aims to:
- Its goal is to strengthen economic ties between partner countries with the goal of advancing development, peace and prosperity in the region.
IPEP has four pillars:
- IPEP is not a free trade agreement (FTA), yet allows member countries to negotiate on the areas they wish. The IPEP format is based on four business-related pillars:
- Trade (Pillar I);
- Supply Chain (Pillar II);
- Clean Economy (Pillar III); And
- Fair Economy (Pillar IV).
- India is included in Pillars II to IV of IPEF while it has observer status in Pillar I.
- The ministerial meeting took place under IPEF Pillar III (Clean Economy), Pillar IV (Fair Economy) and the Agreement on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (Ministerial Council for the Establishment of a Commission).
- Also following the important conclusion of negotiations on the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement in May 2023, IPEF Ministers signed the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement during the Ministerial Meeting.
- Under the Clean Economy (Pillar III), IPEF partners aim to advance cooperation on research, development, commercialization, availability, access and deployment of clean energy and climate-friendly technologies. It also aims to provide investment facilities for climate related projects in the region.
- Under the Fair Economy (Pillar IV), IPEF Partners aim to strengthen the implementation of effective anti-corruption and tax measures to promote commerce, trade and investment among IPEF economies.