Los Angeles, Sep 9 (PTI) India has at present not agreed to the trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a 14-member bloc which held its meeting here, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said.
The IPEF was launched jointly by the US and other partner countries of the Indo-Pacific region on May 23 in Tokyo.
It seeks to strengthen economic partnership among participating countries with the objective of enhancing resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness and competitiveness in the region.
The 14 members of the IPEF are — Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the US.
The framework is structured around four pillars relating to trade, supply chains, clean economy, and fair economy.
“That question you should pose to (Indian commerce) minister (Piyush) Goyal. I would not characterise it as opting out, India is not in the trade pillar right now,” Tai told reporters here when asked why India opted out of the trade pillar.
Earlier, Goyal has stated that India will take decisions on different aspects of IPEF based on its national interest.
Tai also said that “India is not now in the trade pillar. However, minister Goyal and I have been talking and we have our bilateral and trade policy forum. I should be meeting him by the end of this year… Minister Goyal and I will stay in touch, but he is not now in the trade pillar”. PTI JD HVA HVA
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.