IPEF Supply Chain Vision Finally Comes Into View
Date
10/17/2023 6:15:07 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times) After a year of negotiations and an additional four months of legal scrubbing, the first agreement negotiated as part of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) has been released. The IPEF Agreement Relating to supply chain Resilience gives us the first concrete insights into what IPEF could add to the region's economic architecture.
The agreement brings welcome attention to the issues facing supply chains, but effective implementation will be key to realizing the agreement's potential.
The
Supply Chain Agreement
contains a laundry list of the parties' plans to make supply chains stronger and more resilient. This includes everything from increasing transparency, to facilitating investment and encouraging the use of digital standards.
While mostly laudable aims – particularly considering the challenges in reaching consensus among the diverse range of IPEF participants – much of the language is broad and non-binding, which leaves it open to interpretation.
The hope will be that these can at least set baseline norms and perhaps inform binding rules in the future. The risk, though, is they become dead letters with little tangible impact.
The Supply Chain Agreements's new institutional mechanisms may provide more concrete outcomes. These include an IPEF Supply Chain Council, an IPEF Supply Chain Crisis Response Network to prepare for and respond to disruptions and an IPEF Labor Rights Advisory Board made up of government, worker and employer representatives.
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