India has been elected as vice-chair of the Supply Chain Council(SCC), one of the three supply chain bodies set up by the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) partners pursuant to the Supply Chain Resilience Agreement.
- The United States of America (USA) was elected as the Chair of SCC.
Background:
i.The chair and vice chair of the SCC were elected during the inaugural virtual meetings of the 3 supply chain bodies: SCC; the Crisis Response Network (CRN); and Labor Rights Advisory Board (LRAB) held on 30th July 2024.
ii.The elected chairs and vice chairs of CRN and LRAB are,
- CRN: Republic of Korea (Chair) and Japan (Vice Chair).
- LRAB: The USA (Chair) and Fiji (Vice Chair).
iii.The first in-person meeting of the supply chain bodies will be held in Washington, D.C., USA in September 2024 on the sidelines of Supply Chain Summit.
About the Supply Chain Bodies:
i.SCC was established 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.
ii.CRN was established to provide a forum for a collective emergency response to exigent or imminent disruptions.
iii.LRAB was established to offer a platform for the workers, employers, and governments to strengthen labor rights and workforce development across regional supply chains.
Highlights of meeting:
i.SCC adopted Terms of Reference (ToR) and discussed initial work priorities.
ii.CRN discussed near and longer-term priorities, including conducting a table top exercise.
iii.LRAB discussed priorities on strengthening labor rights across IPEF supply chains.
iv.The meeting also focused on the labor provisions in the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement and Fair Economy Agreement.
Points to note:
i.The inaugural meeting of the Supply chain bodies marks a key step towards the cooperation among partner countries for strengthening supply chain resilience in the region.
ii.During the meetings, the 14 IPEF partners reaffirmed their commitments and resolve to ensure closer cooperation to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of critical supply chains and better prepare for and respond to supply chain disruptions, while strengthening the labor rights.
About IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement:
i.IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement was signed in November 2023, by the Union Minister Piyush Goyal along with the ministers from member countries of IPEF in Washington D.C., the United States of America (USA).
- The agreement came into force in February, 2024.
ii.It aims to make IPEF supply chains more resilient, robust, and well-integrated, and contribute towards the overall economic development and progress of the Indo-Pacific region.
About Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF):
i.IPEF was launched jointly by the U.S.A. and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region on 23rd May 2022 in Tokyo, Japan.
ii.Aim: To strengthen the partnership with the allies and partners and tackle the 21st –century economic challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.
iii.The IPEF is structured around 4 pillars: Trade; Supply Chain; Clean Economy and Fair Economy.
14 partner countries: Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and U.S.A.
