At a summit on strengthening global supply chains convened by US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined that trusted source, transparency and time-frame were three critical aspects for improving the supply chains. Speaking at the Summit on ‘Global Supply Chain Resilience’ on Sunday, Prime Minister Modi said that India has built a reputation as one of the trusted sources of pharmaceuticals, IT and other items, and was now also looking forward to playing a role in the clean technology supply chain.
“I suggest that we instruct our teams to meet at the earliest to draw up an action plan based on our shared democratic values, within a given time frame,” he said. While thanking Biden for convening the summit, Modi recalled that when the US president took office, he had said ‘America is back’ and “I would like to say, “Welcome back”.
“In the initial months of the pandemic, we all felt the shortage of raw materials to make essential medicines, health equipment and vaccines. Now that the world is gearing up for economic recovery, the supply problems of semiconductors and other commodities are coming in the way of healthy growth,” Modi said. Who in the world had thought there would ever be a shortage of shipping containers, he asked.
Modi asserted that in order to improve the global supply of vaccines, India has increased the pace of export of Covid vaccines. “We are also working with our Quad partners to supply better and cost-effective Covid-19 vaccines to the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
Modi reiterated that India is ready to produce 5 billion Covid vaccine doses for the world next year. “For this also, it is very important that there should not be any hindrance in the supply of raw materials,” he said.
Modi said three aspects are most important to improve global supply chains trusted source, transparency and time-frame. Asserting that It is necessary that our supply should be from trusted sources, Modi said this is also important for shared security.
Trusted sources should also be such that they do not have any reactive tendency so that the supply chain is protected from a tit-for-tat approach, he said. For the reliability of the supply chain, it is also necessary that there should be transparency in it, he asserted.
“Due to lack of transparency, today we are seeing that many companies around the world are facing a shortage of small things. If critical things are not arranged on time, it can cause a big loss,” Modi said. “This we have realized in the case of pharma and medical supplies during the coronavirus period. So, in order to ensure supply within a time-frame, we have to diversify our supply chains. For this, alternative manufacturing capacity will have to be developed in developing countries,” Modi said.
The United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany, Indonesia, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom met in Rome to discuss near-term supply chain disruptions and paths to long-term resilience. Secure, sustainable, and resilient global supply chains are foundational to our economic prosperity, national security, and collective interests, the White House said in a Chair’s Statement on Principles for Supply Chain Resilience.
Countries expressed intent for working together to strengthen the resilience of the supply chains – the global ecosystem of raw materials, intermediate goods, manufacturing, logistics, research and development that ensures that the businesses and consumers get the products they need, it said. “Secure, sustainable, and resilient supply chains require that we work in partnership, not only as governments, but with industry, unions and workers, civil society, and international organisations alike,” it said.
When the first wave of Covid-19 rolled around the globe, it caught most businesses off-guard as it disrupted supply chains on an unprecedented level. Whether in responding to acute shocks of the kind we are experiencing in global trade today, or addressing the chronic long-term challenges in sectors critical to our security, more resilient global supply chains are fundamental to sustainable economic development for all,” the statement added.
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