India elected as Vice-Chair of the Supply Chain Council of IPEF
Appointment
4 min read
India has been elected as the Vice-Chair of one of the three supply chain bodies set up under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Agreement relating to Supply Chain Resilience. The 14-member IPEF established these bodies at its virtual meetings. They are the Crisis Response Network (CRN) , Supply Chain Council (SCC) and Labor Rights Advisory Board (LRAB).
India Vice Chair of Supply Chain Council
The 14 member countries of the IPEF elected a Chair and Vice Chair of these three supply chain bodies. The Chair and Vice Chair will serve a two-year term.
- Supply Chain Council: Chair-USA, Vice-Chair - India.
- Crisis Response Network: Chair- South Korea, Vice-Chair - Japan.
- Labor Rights Advisory Board: Chair- USA, Vice-Chair - Fiji.
About Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF)
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) is a United States of America (USA) led initiative which was launched by the American President Joe Biden on 23 May 2022 in Tokyo, Japan.
The IPEF aims to promote economic interaction and cooperation among partner countries, advancing growth, economic stability, and regional prosperity.
The IPEF seeks to achieve its objective through four pillars relating to
- Pillar I- Fair and resilient trade
- Pillar II- Supply chain resilience;
- Pillar III-Infrastructure, decarbonisation and clean energy; and
- Pillar IV- Tax and anti-corruption.
India has not joined the Pillar I and has an observer status.
The 14 Member countries of IPEF are India, Japan, Australia, Brunei, Fiji, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the USA.
IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement
The first IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement was signed by the members of the IPEF in Washington, D.C., USA, in November 2023. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goel signed the agreement on behalf of India.
The Supply Chain Resilience Agreement came into force in February 2024.
What is a Supply Chain?
A Supply Chain refers to the entire system of producing and delivering a product or service, from sourcing the raw materials to the final delivery to end users.
The main reason for establishing the IPEF was to reduce reliance on China and minimise disruption in supply due to pandemics or other reasons.
China has emerged as the world's factory and is central to the world supply chain. During the Covid pandemic, the world witnessed disruption in the global supply chain, causing immense economic and other hardships to countries across the world.
IPEF aims to shift the supply chain away from China to the member countries of the IPEF and make it resilient enough to absorb shocks like pandemics.
