IPEF (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – IR)

Context: The 3rd Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Ministerial Meeting held in San Francisco, California.

• At this Ministerial Meeting, negotiations under the IPEF Pillar-III (Clean Economy), Pillar IV (Fair Economy) and the Agreement on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (which seeks to establish a ministerial-level council and a commission) were substantially concluded.

Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF)

• History: The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) was launched by United States (US) in Tokyo at the QUAD summit on May 23, 2022.
• Aim: The framework intends to “advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness” in these economies. 

o Not an FTA: The US has repeatedly reiterated that the IPEF is not a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Comprehensive and Progressive Transpacific Partnership (CPTPP).

• Members: IPEF has 14 partner countries including Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam & USA.
• Pillars: The framework is structured around four pillars relating to: Trade (Pillar I); Supply Chains (Pillar II); Clean Economy (Pillar III); and Fair Economy (Pillar IV).

o India had joined Pillars II to IV of IPEF while it has an observer status in Pillar-I.