India urges Indo-Pacific partners to tap into Bharat’s clean economy opportunities

Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal joined US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, along with the ministers from the other Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) partners, in its first ministerial meeting this year.

The IPEF brings together 14 regional partners – Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam in a new model of economic cooperation whose negotiations began in late 2022.

Addressing the first IPEF virtual ministerial meeting to place this year, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted India’s global production capacities in many critical sectors, which provide supply diversification opportunities for IPEF partners. This pertains to Pillar-II (supply chains resilience) agreement, which entered into force on February 24, 2024. Highlighted the ‘Prime Minister Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana’ as a project that not only furthers clean economy objectives but also generates large socio-economic multiplier effects.

During the virtual ministerial meeting of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) on Pillars II-IV, the partners welcomed the significant progress made since the substantial conclusion of the negotiations for the proposed IPEF Clean Economy Agreement (Pillar III), the IPEF Fair Economy Agreement (Pillar IV), and Agreement on IPEF in November 2023. The IPEF partners also discussed the ongoing cooperative work ahead across the three proposed agreements.

Minister Goyal along with the IPEF partners also welcomed the headways made since the substantial conclusion of the Fair Economy Agreement (Pillar IV) and Agreement on IPEF in November 2023 and discussed the ongoing cooperative work ahead across the three proposed agreements.

The proposed Fair Economy Agreement aims to create a more transparent, predictable trade and investment environment across the Indo-Pacific. To achieve these goals, under the proposed agreement, the IPEF partners would work together to enhance their efforts to prevent and combat corruption, including bribery, and support efforts to improve tax transparency and the exchange of information, domestic resource mobilisation, and tax administration.

India has called for an expeditious implementation of all the action-oriented collaborative elements under various pillars of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) 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 will next meet in-person in Singapore on June 6, 2024 to discuss the Supply Chain Agreement, the Clean Economy Agreement, the Fair Economy Agreement, and the Agreement on IPEF, the Commerce ministry said on Thursday.  The inaugural IPEF Clean Economy Investor Forum will be held in Singapore on 5-6 June 2024 and provide more details on the IPEF Catalytic Capital Fund which has planned commitment to provide USD 33 million in initial grant funding.

These funds will be instrumental in catalysing up to USD 3.3 billion in private investment for climate infrastructure projects in IPEF economies party to the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement. The Fund’s founding supporters include Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States. The Private Infrastructure Development Group will administer and leverage the Fund to deploy concessional financing, technical assistance, and capacity building support to expand the pipeline of high quality, resilient, and inclusive climate infrastructure projects.

Following the substantial conclusion of the negotiations of the three proposed agreements in November 2023, the IPEF partners conducted an intensive legal review, including an in-person round held in Washington, DC., during February 19-23, 2024. The IPEF partners have also taken another significant step forward with the finalisation of the texts for the three proposed agreements. Going ahead, the IPEF partners will now undertake their respective domestic processes to prepare for signature of the agreements, followed by acceptance, approval, or ratification of the agreements.