Trade Ministers of India, Japan and Australia formally launched the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) in a Trilateral Ministerial Meeting on 27 April.
Dan Tehan, Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry, and Kajiyama Hiroshi, Japan’s Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry launched the initiative through a Ministerial videoconference.
The SCRI aims to create a “virtuous cycle” of enhancing supply chain resilience with a view to eventually attaining strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth in the region.
According to a joint press statement adopted in the virtual meet, the three countries “acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic was having an unprecedented impact in terms of lives lost, livelihoods and economies affected, and that the pandemic had revealed supply chain vulnerabilities globally and in the region”.
“The Ministers also noted that some supply chains have been left vulnerable due to a range of factors”, the statement added.
“Based on the high level consultations among Australia, India and Japan since September last year, the Ministers noted the importance of risk management and continuity plans in order to avoid supply chain disruptions and affirmed their commitment to strengthen resilient supply chains. Possible policy measures may include: (i) supporting the enhanced utilization of digital technology; and (ii) supporting trade and investment diversification,” the statement continued.
“The Ministers instructed their officials to implement the following as initial projects of SCRI and further develop the Initiative: (i) sharing of best practices on supply chain resilience; and (ii) holding investment promotion events and buyer-seller matching events to provide opportunities for stakeholders to explore the possibility of diversification of their supply chains”, the statement said.
The statement further said that the ministers had decided to convene at least once a year to provide guidance to the implementation of the SCRI as well as to consult on how to develop the Initiative. The Ministers noted the important role of business and academia for the Initiative, it said.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.