Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in U.S. President Joseph Biden’s unveiling of the ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Framework’ (IPEF) in Tokyo on Monday, a U.S. initiative for trade partnerships in the region, sources confirmed.
Mr. Modi’s attendance of the event is a significant step towards building economic ties amongst Quad countries (India, the U.S., Australia and Japan) in the Indo-Pacific, although officials were hesitant to bill the IPEF as a counter to the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the 17-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that China is a member of.
Briefing the media ahead of the event, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the IPEF would have a “very wide-ranging membership”, adding significantly, that the programme was “designed to put workers at the centre — American workers,” with a focus on the digital economy, clean energy transition, infrastructure and resilient supply chains.
