Wilmington/New Delhi, Sep 22 (UNI) The bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden saw both sides exchange agreements pertaining to India depositing instruments of ratification of Pillar III and IV of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) as well as the India-US Drug Policy Framework and MoU.
The MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in a post on X said:
“At the India-US bilateral meeting in Wilmington, both sides exchanged agreements pertaining to:
Deposit of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) instruments of ratification for Pillar III (Clean Economy), Pillar IV (Fair Economy) & the Overarching Agreement India-US Drug Policy Framework & MoU.”
The India-US Joint Fact Sheet released after the bilateral meeting says:
“The Leaders welcomed India's signature and ratification of the Agreements under Pillar III, Pillar IV and the overarching Agreement on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). The Leaders underscored that IPEF seeks to advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness of the economies of its signatories.
They noted the economic diversity of the 14 IPEF partners that represents 40 percent of global GDP and 28 percent of global goods and services trade.
President Biden and Prime Minister Modi celebrated the new U.S.-India Drug Policy Framework for the 21st Century and its accompanying Memorandum of Understanding, which will deepen collaboration to disrupt the illicit production and international trafficking of synthetic drugs and precursor chemicals, and deepen a holistic public health partnership.
The two Leaders signaled their commitment to the objectives of the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drugs Threats and work towards combatting the threat of synthetic drugs and their precursors through mutually agreed initiatives to promote public health through coordinated actions.
The Leaders applauded the first-ever U.S.-India Cancer Dialogue held in August 2024, which brought together experts from both countries to increase research and development to accelerate the rate of progress against cancer. The Leaders applauded the recently launched Bio5 partnership between the United States, India, ROK, Japan, and the EU, driving closer cooperation on pharmaceutical supply chains. The Leaders applauded the Development Finance Corporation's $50 million loan to Indian company Panacea Biotech to manufacture hexavalent (six-in-one) vaccines for children, reaffirming our joint commitment to advance shared global health priorities, including bolstering support for primary healthcare.”
Seen as an attempt to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, US President Joe Biden launched the IPEF in Tokyo on 23 May 2022. The 14 members include USA, Australia, India, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The IPEF framework comprises four pillars of trade, supply chains, clean energy and tax & anti-corruption.
All 14 IPEF members, including India, signed the supply chains resilience agreement which entered into force on February 24, 2024.
India has yet to sign the trade pillar (Pillar-I) that is aimed at strengthening economic engagement among partner countries.
