About Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF):
- It is a regional arrangement to build cooperation and economic integration in the Indo-Pacific region.
- It was launched by United States President Joe Biden on May 23, 2022.
- This framework is intended to advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness for member economies.
- IPEF will seek to complement and build on existing regional architecture and support the global rules-based trading system.
- It currently includes 14 partner countries: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam.
- The economic framework broadly rests on four pillars:
- Trade
- Supply chain resilience
- Clean Energy, Decarbonization, and Infrastructure
- Taxes and anti-corruption measures
- The IPEF is not a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), but it allows members to negotiate the parts they want to.
- India and IPEF:
- India has been actively participating in the IPEF, but not in all pillars.
- India has decided to opt out of the trade pillar of the IPEF as most issues promoted by the IPEF do not align with India's trade policies.
