News Excerpt:

Recently, the Union Minister for Commerce & Industry participated in the ministerial meeting of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

Key Highlights:

• IPEF partners welcomed the entry into force of the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement with effect from 24 February 2024. 
• The texts of the proposed Clean Economy Agreement, Fair Economy Agreement, and Agreement on IPEF were also made public. 

• India has called for expeditious implementation and invited investors from IPEF partners to invest and benefit from the trillion-dollar-plus opportunity that India provides in the clean economy domain.
• The IPEF partners also announced plans to provide $33 million in initial grant funding for the IPEF Catalytic Capital Fund under the Pillar III Clean Economy Agreement. 
• These funds will be instrumental in catalyzing up to $3.3 billion in private investment for climate infrastructure projects in IPEF economies party to the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement. 
• The IPEF partners took stock of the Cooperative Work Programs (CWP) on hydrogen announced in May 2023.
• The CWPs are a mechanism through which the IPEF partners or a group of partners prioritize their focus and resources on a common goal.
• The IPEF partners also announced four new CWPs based on proposals put forward by partners:
• On carbon markets: Interested IPEF partners initially are seeking to understand existing regional carbon market priorities and to improve the enabling conditions for cooperation.
• Interested IPEF partners also are pursuing clean electricity enhancement to facilitate increased decarbonization and access to clean energy in the region, including through public-private cooperation.
• To advance the promotion of employment creation and labour rights: interested IPEF partners endeavour to pursue workforce development efforts to ensure a just transition towards achieving a clean economy.
• Interested IPEF partners will collaborate on sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) to enhance the availability and affordability of SAF and its feedstocks to develop regional SAF value chains in the region.

About IPEF:

• IPEF was launched jointly by the USA and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region in May 2022 in Tokyo. 
• IPEF has 14 partner countries including Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam & USA. 
• This framework will advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness for our economies. 
• This framework will offer tangible benefits that fuel economic activity and investment, promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and benefit workers and consumers across the region.  
• The 14 IPEF partners represent 40 percent of global GDP and 28 percent of global goods and services trade.
• The launch began discussions on its four pillars: 

• • Trade; 

• • Supply Chains; 

• • Clean Energy, Decarbonization, and Infrastructure; and 

• • Tax and Anti-Corruption.  

• The IPEF is designed to be flexible, meaning that IPEF partners are not required to join all four pillars. India has joined Pillars II to IV of IPEF while it has an observer status in Pillar I (Trade).

India as Member:

• Under the Supply Chains (Pillar-II): IPEF partner countries are seeking to: 
• Make supply chains more resilient, robust, and well-integrated through crisis response measures;
• Cooperation for mitigation of disruptions to better ensure business continuity, and improve logistics and connectivity; 
• Promoting investments, particularly in critical sectors and production of key goods; and 
• Worker role enhancement through requisite upskilling and reskilling, and increasing comparability of skills credentials frameworks across IPEF. 

• Under the Clean Economy (Pillar-III): IPEF partners are aiming to: 
• Advance cooperation on research, development, commercialization, availability, accessibility, and 
• Deployment of clean energy and climate-friendly technologies, and 
• Facilitate investment towards climate-related projects in the region. 

• Under the Fair Economy (Pillar-IV): IPEF partners are working toward: 
• Development of the text of an agreement that will strengthen the implementation of effective anti-corruption and 
• Tax measures to boost commerce, trade, and investment among IPEF economies.