Context:

Recently, India has been elected vice-chair of the supply chain council, one of the three bodies set up by the 14-member Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

More on the news

• India and 13 other Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) partners have established three supply chain bodies under the landmark Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Agreement relating to Supply Chain Resilience.
• The three supply chain bodies and their recently elected chair and Vice Chair.

1. Supply Chain Council: USA (Chair) and India (Vice Chair)
2. Crisis Response Network: Republic of Korea (Chair) and Japan (Vice Chair)
3. Labor Rights Advisory Board: USA (Chair) and Fiji (Vice Chair)

• The council aims to pursue targeted, action-oriented work to strengthen the supply chains for the sectors and goods most critical to national security, public health, and economic well-being.
• The first-of-its-kind IPEF Supply Chain Resilience Agreement was signed by India along with the Ministers from other IPEF partner countries in November 2023 in Washington D.C.
• The Agreement was ratified in February 2024.

Objective of Supply Chain Council

• To make IPEF supply chains more resilient, robust, and well-integrated, and contribute towards economic development and progress of the Indo-Pacific region. 

Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) 

• It was launched on 23 May 2022 in Tokyo, Japan, 
• It comprises 14 countries – Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the USA. 
• The 14 IPEF partners represent 40 percent of the global GDP and 28 percent of global goods and services trade.
• The framework is structured around four pillars 

1. Trade (Pillar I) 
2. Supply Chain Resilience (Pillar II) 
3. Clean Economy (Pillar III)
4. Fair Economy (Pillar IV) 

• • India had joined Pillars II to IV of IPEF while it has maintained an observer status in Pillar I.
• • Through this initiative, the IPEF partners aim to contribute to cooperation, stability, prosperity, development, and peace within the Indo-Pacific region.