A four-point roadmap was disclosed by a partnership of 18 countries and their economies including the US, India, and the European Union (EU), for constructing a collective, flexible supply chain that can stay for a long-term duration including the steps to tackle risks arising from the dependencies and vulnerabilities of the supply chain. Following a virtual ministerial conference on supply chains that was convened by US Secretaries of State Antony Blinken and Gina Raimondo, the 17 partner governments released a joint statement defining the plan. The gathering served as a continuation of the supply chain summit that US President Joe Biden called in October.
With no reference to China in the joint statement of the 17 economies, the text undoubtedly aimed at the measures to reduce the dependence of the joint nations on the Chinese supply chains against the forceful actions of Beijing, including on trade issues and economies. According to a statement, the global fundamentals of security, transparency, sustainability, and diversification are the basis for building the supply chain roadmap. The success of this initiative depends on developing collective, long-term sustainable supply chains built on multinational relationships.
The global fundamentals of security, transparency, sustainability, and diversification are the basis for building the supply chain roadmap.
The partners have mentioned that they are looking forward to deepening their consultations to address and identify the risks that take place from supply dependencies and possible vulnerabilities in vital infrastructure to encourage the security of the supply chain. The statement also said that the economies are planning to work unitedly to address the vulnerabilities and work to dismiss corruption and support supply chain security. This cooperation is likely to have partnerships with labor, industrial companies as well as civil society, and other stakeholders to manage the risks to the security of the supply chain.
To increase the resilience of supply chains, the partners will also advocate for transparency in consultation with the corporate sector, civil society, the government, and other pertinent stakeholders. The statement added that the union is planning to enhance the system of information sharing and to range the common approaches that are possible along with early warning systems that can be useful.
To strengthen the resilience of supply chains and make their economies less susceptible to disruptions and shocks, the partners will also encourage diversification and increase global capacities for a variety of trustworthy and sustainable sources of materials and inputs, intermediate goods, and finished goods in priority sectors. It also added that the economies will work in a united way to promote openness, fairness, and predictability in economic relations because predictability is vital for flexible supply chains.
The partners will work unitedly to promote openness, fairness, and predictability in economic relations.
The partners will also promote the sustainability ad responsibility approach in business conduct across the supply chain industry and objectives in agreements of multilateral environment like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. The statement said that the shocks to supply chains caused by pandemics, armed conflicts, extreme climate impacts, and natural disasters “have brought into stark relief the urgent need to further strengthen supply chains, to work to reduce and end near-term disruptions, and to build long-term resilience.” The other partners besides the US, India, and the EU, partners like Brazil, Australia, the UK, Spain, Singapore, Netherlands, South Korea, Indonesia Congo, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Italy, Mexico, and Canada.