India, 17 others unveil roadmap for long-term resilient supply chains

A partnership of 18 economies, including India, the US and the European Union (EU), has unveiled a four-point roadmap for building collective, long-term resilient supply chains, including steps to counter risks arising from supply dependencies and vulnerabilities.

The roadmap was outlined in a joint statement issued on Wednesday following a virtual supply chain ministerial meeting hosted by US secretary of state Antony Blinken and secretary of commerce Gina Raimondo. The meeting was a follow-up to the supply chain summit convened by US President Joe Biden last October.

The roadmap for building resilient supply chains is based on the global principles of transparency, diversification, security and sustainability, according to the statement. "Building collective, long-term resilient supply chains based on international partnerships is critical to the success of this effort," the statement said.

The partners said they intend to "deepen our consultations to identify and address risks arising from supply dependencies and potential vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure" in order to promote supply chain security.

"We intend to work together to address our mutual vulnerabilities and work to eliminate corruption in support of supply chain security," the statement said, adding this cooperation will involve partnerships with industry, labour, civil society and other relevant stakeholders to manage security risks to supply chains.

Besides India, the US, the EU, other partners are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Congo, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Singapore, Spain and the UK.