Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic[ ] (via Public) / Speech by External Affairs Minister at the Future of Asia Conference organized by Nikkei publicnow.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from publicnow.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday said that India can “de-risk the global economy through more effective partnerships” calling for multiple engines of growth, in a multipolar and “rebalanced” world.
Addressing the Nikkei “Future of Asia” conference, Jaishankar called for diversification of supply chains from the current over-dependence on China.
“It is only with such redundancy that the world can face the next pandemic better than we are doing the current one,” Jaishankar said.
The pandemic, he said, had upended the global conversation on globalisation countries focusing more on strategic autonomy at least in critical areas of the economy and supply chains.
Australian budget underscores preparations for war
Among the most revealing features of the annual federal budget unveiled by the Australian government this week were expanded military spending and measures to protect strategic “supply chains” in the event of war.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg avoided referring to China in Tuesday night’s budget speech, but key contents of the budget point to preparations being made to join a US-instigated war against China, reflecting the Biden administration’s escalation of the conflict with Beijing.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopter and an Australian Defence Force MRH90 land at Sam Hill Airfield in Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area in Central Queensland [Source: Australian Department of Defence]
Economy > Trade
29 April 2021
Trade ministers of India, Japan and Australia on Tuesday formally launched the Supply Chain Resilience initiative in a trilateral ministerial meeting held virtually. The meeting, held in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and its worsening impact on trade flows.
Australia’s minister for trade, tourism and investment Dan Tehan, India’s minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal and Japan’s minister for economy, trade and industry Kajiyama Hiroshi, also issued a joint statement, which was adopted at the meeting.
The ministers acknowledged that the Covid-19 pandemic was having an unprecedented impact in terms of lives lost, livelihoods and economies affected, and that the pandemic had revealed supply chain vulnerabilities globally and in the region. The ministers also noted that some supply chains have been left vulnerable due to a range of factors.