Union Minister Piyush Goyal along with 13 other Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Ministers virtually attended the third Ministerial meeting focused on IPEF Pillar II, III, and IV, the Commerce & Industry Ministry said on Tuesday.

The leaders welcomed the upcoming entry into force of the Clean Economy Agreement, Fair Economy Agreement, and the Overarching Agreement on IPEF on October 11, October 12, and October 11, respectively, and emphasised the significant opportunities to further deepen economic cooperation and deliver concrete benefits under the IPEF agreements through ongoing collaboration.

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IPEF ministers outlined concrete next steps for the upcoming months, building on the progress made by the Supply Chain Agreement’s three bodies: the Supply Chain Council, Crisis Response Network, and Labor Rights Advisory Board.

At the meet, Minister Goyal noted that the formation of Action Plan teams in the first in person meeting of supply chain council held in Washington last week, for three critical sectors: semiconductors, critical minerals with a focus on batteries, and chemicals which are highly relevant today given their supply/production concentration and the experience learned from disruptions faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He emphasised that healthcare including pharmaceuticals and medical devices is an extremely relevant area due to over concentration of global production of APIs and Key Starting Materials (KSMs) which can ”severely impair supply chain resilience and impact our capacity to address the healthcare needs of our economies”.

Besides, the multimodal transport systems including multimodal transport corridors, upgrades of logistics infrastructure, enhanced technological interoperability and data flows among freight and logistics enterprises, are some of the key areas which need to be focused upon, he added.

The growing population puts immense pressure on limited agricultural land for higher yields and in this context, the importance of resilient supply chains for Agro-chemicals has become extremely important, the minister highlighted.

According to an estimate, the Global Agrochemicals Market (fertilizers, pesticides, adjuvants, and plant regulators) is projected to reach USD 282.2 billion by 2028 from USD 235.2 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 3.7 per cent.

He also noted that IPEF’s focus on Logistics and Movement of Goods aligns perfectly with PM Narendra Modi’s vision of Gati Shakti initiative, which aims to improve logistics and transportation infrastructure across India through evidence-based integrated planning.