India, Japan, Australia underscore necessity to enhance resiliency of supply chains in India-Pacific region

New Delhi [India], September 1 : The Commerce and Trade ministers of India, Australia and Japan on Tuesday underscored the necessity and potential to enhance the resiliency of supply chains in the India-Pacific region.
India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Senator Simon Birmingham, and Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Kajiyama Hiroshi held a ministerial videoconference on Tuesday.
"The Ministers reaffirmed their determination to take a lead in delivering a free, fair, inclusive, non-discriminatory, transparent, predictable and stable trade and investment environment and in keeping their markets open," a release from Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
"In light of the COVID-19 crisis and the recent global-scale changes in the economic and technological landscape, the Ministers underscored the necessity and potential to enhance the resiliency of supply chains in the Indo-Pacific region," it said.
Recognizing the pressing need for regional cooperation on supply chain resilience in the Indo- Pacific, the Ministers shared their intention to work toward the launch of a new initiative to achieve the objective through cooperation, the release said while adding that they instructed their officials to promptly work out the details of the new initiative for its launch later this year.
"The Ministers noted the important role of business and academia in realizing the objective. The Ministers called for other countries in the region, which share the afore-mentioned views, to participate in the initiative," the release informed.
Addressing the trilateral meeting, Piyush Goyal said that the initiative could not have come at a more opportune time in the post COVID scenario when there is a likelihood of rechurning of supply chains in the Indo-Pacific region and it is incumbent upon us to take the initiative.
"He said that in May 2020, Prime Minister of India had stressed that it is the need of the hour that India should play a big role in the supply chains," the release said.
"India wholeheartedly endorses the broad concept of working towards ensuring a trustworthy, dependable and reliable supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region. The diversification of supply chain is critical for managing the risks associated with the supply of inputs including disciplining price volatility," Goyal was quoted as saying.
"We could provide the core pathway for linking value chains in the region by creating a network of reliable long term supplies and appropriate capacities," he said.
As per the release, in terms of participation by interested countries, Goyal said that it is important that we look at countries with a similar line of thinking in terms of being reliable and dependable suppliers for ensuring resiliency in the supply chains of the region.
Describing Australia, India and Japan as crucial players in the region, Minister Goyal said that during 2019, the cumulative GDP was $ 9.3 trillion while cumulative merchandise goods and services trade were $ 2.7 trillion and $0.9 trillion respectively.
Stressing on the need to expand trade between these countries, Goyal, however, pointed out that with Japan, it is seen that in many specific products, despite our global exports and Japanese global imports being high with zero preferential tariffs, the procurement from India was limited.
Talking about India's economic expansion being now premised on the policy of being Atmanirbhar or self- reliant, Goyal said that the policy seeks to make India economically stronger with enhanced capacities ensuring resiliency of supply chains.
He said that India, in its tradition of treating the world as a family, played a crucial role during the COVID crisis with the export measures for supply of critical medical products put in place only to ensure equitable distribution.
"All these measures indicate our credibility and reliability as a partner and I am sure this is an important parameter as we venture into this new initiative for ensuring resiliency of supply chains. Transparency and trust have to be the hallmark of our initiative if we seek to expand its footprint. We firmly believe that Australia and Japan are key partners for us in our joint endeavor", Goyal said, as per the release.
Last month, US President Donald Trump said he will fully end the country's reliance on China if elected president again.
"We'll fully restore America's manufacturing independence, bring home our critical supply chains and permanently end our reliance on China," Trump had said at the 2020 Council for National Policy meeting in Washington.