International Desk

India signed first-of-its-kind agreements focused on clean economy, fair economy and the overarching arrangement under the Quad’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ongoing visit to the US.

These agreements will facilitate development, access and deployment of clean energy and climate-friendly technologies, catalyze investment and strengthen measures for anti-corruption, tax transparency and improve business environment, an official statement today said.

Modi is on a three-day visit to the US for the Quad summit comprising the US, India, Australia and Japan.

The IPEF clean economy agreement, which is the third pillar of the Quad, is aimed at promoting Technical cooperation, workforce development, capacity building, and research collaborations, facilitate development, access, and deployment of clean energy and climate-friendly technologies to collectively accelerate efforts of IPEF partners towards energy security and transition, climate resilience and adaptation and GHG emissions mitigation.

The agreement will facilitate investments, project financing including concessional financing, joint collaborative projects, workforce development and technical assistance for industries, in particular for the MSMEs, and facilitate further integration of Indian companies in the global value chains, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

The IPEF fair economy agreement, the fourth pillar of the Quad, aims to collaborative efforts to enhance efforts in preventing and combating corruption, including bribery, and supporting initiatives to improve tax transparency, information-sharing among partners, facilitating asset recovery, and strengthening cross-border investigations and prosecutions.

IPEF was launched on May 23, 2022 in Tokyo comprising 14 countries – Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the USA with the objective of strengthening economic engagement among partner countries with the goal of advancing growth, economic stability and prosperity in the region.

The framework is structured around four pillars relating to trade (Pillar I), supply chain resilience (Pillar II), clean economy (Pillar III) and fair economy (Pillar IV). India has ratified Agreement on Supply Chain Resilience (Pillar II) in February 2024 and has maintained an observer status in Pillar-I.