Goyal pushes for resilient supply chains at G7 meeting in Osaka

New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal emphasised the need for public-private partnership and investment in key infrastructure for enhancing supply chain resilience in the global economy at the G7 Trade Ministers Meeting in Osaka, Japan on Saturday.

Goyal said that the Covid-19 pandemic and the geopolitical events highlighted the vulnerabilities of the existing supply chains leading to an increase in commodity prices and global inflation.

“The minister highlighted the need to encourage public-private partnership, investment in critical infrastructure and emphasis on innovation and digitalisation of the supply chains. He also stressed on the importance of supply chain diversification and skilling and re-skilling of personnel, according to an official statement.

The Indian minister urged governments to collaborate on a regulatory framework to ease the movement of supply chains and facilitate cross border trade. He also recalled the Generic Framework for Mapping of GVCs mentioned in the New Delhi Declaration of the G20.

Representatives from governments, the private sector and international organisations like OECD and WTO also participated in the session.

Most of the private sector representatives shared their positive experiences in developing resilient supply chains.

Suzuki made a presentation on their experience in India. Suzuki mentioned how they developed a reliable and trusted vendor base in India and achieved over 95 per cent indigenisation in their supply chains in the country. ERIA also mentioned a study conducted by them that showed the growing share of India in global value chains.

Ministers from Australia, Chile, Indonesia and Kenya also made their interventions and shared suggestions on this topic.

Goyal also had bilateral engagements with several ministers. He met Nishimura Yasutoshi, Minister of Economy, Trade & Industry, Japan, Kemi Badenoch, Secretary of State for Business & Trade, UK, Don Farrell, Minister for Trade and Tourism, Australia, Katherine Tai, Ambassador, United States Trade Representative, and Udo Phillip, Secretary of State, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs & Climate Action, Germany.

Important issues like enhancing bilateral trade, removal of non-tariff barriers, update on the status of the ongoing FTA negotiations and the upcoming WTO ministerial conference were discussed during the interactions. Goyal also met Ngozi, Director General of WTO and Tatsuo Yasunagawa, Chairman, Mitsui, Japan and Japan-India Business Cooperation Committee (JIBCC), the official statement added.

G7 (Group of 7) is an intergovernmental forum comprising seven important countries of the world. The group accounts for over half of global network wealth, 30-43 per cent of global GDP and 10 per cent of world’s population. India is amongst the select countries that have been invited by G7 in this meeting of trade ministers in Osaka.