The U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) announced further progress in operationalizing the landmark Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Agreement Relating to Supply Chain Resilience (Supply Chain Agreement) with the conclusion of the inaugural virtual meetings of the three supply chain bodies established under the Agreement — the Supply Chain Council, the Crisis Response Network, and the Labor Rights Advisory Board.

The agreement, which came into force in February 2024, aims to facilitate closer cooperation among the 14 IPEF partners — Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam. It is intended to support the economic development of the Indo-Pacific region, to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of critical supply chains, and better prepare for and respond to supply chain disruptions that pose a risk to economic prosperity, while strengthening labor rights and raising up workers across the region.

The DoC said June 30 the meetings built on the progress on IPEF made last month in Singapore, where U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and participating IPEF partners signed the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement, IPEF Fair Economy Agreement, and overarching Agreement on IPEF.

Pursuant to the Supply Chain Agreement, the IPEF partners established three supply chain bodies — a Supply Chain Council to pursue targeted, action-oriented work to strengthen the supply chains for those sectors and goods most critical to national security, public health, and economic well-being; a Crisis Response Network to provide a forum for collective emergency response to exigent or imminent disruptions; and a Labor Rights Advisory Board that brings together workers, employers, and governments at the same table to strengthen labor rights and workforce development across regional supply chains.