USABC welcomes IPEF Ministerial outcomes advancing Upskilling, Supply Chains, Clean Economy, while calling for significant progress under Trade

The US-ASEAN Business Council supports the Biden administration’s efforts and IPEF partners’ commitment in driving progress and concrete outcomes under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) during the IPEF Ministerial in Singapore on June 6, 2024. Seven of the ten ASEAN member states make up half of the total number of IPEF member nations, which makes the IPEF one of the most significant platforms for deepening America’s economic engagement with ASEAN as it continues to represent one of the largest and fastest growing regions of the world. ​ 

“We are proud of our capacity-building role in ASEAN and pleased to see how the important work of the U.S. private sector, especially our members, in digital literacy -- especially STEM education for women and girls -- is recognized and celebrated in the IPEF Upskilling Initiative,” USABC President & CEO Amb. Ted Osius said. ​ 

Over 7 million upskilling opportunities have been created since the launch of the IPEF Upskilling Initiative two years ago. Activities include digital skills training, professional development, internships, in-person collaboration centers, and partnerships promoting artificial intelligence, sustainability, cybersecurity, data analysis, cloud, and computing. ​ ​ 

“The Council notes positive developments on mechanisms that advance resilient and transparent Supply Chains. ​ We welcome a financing framework that lines up concrete clean energy projects. Completed business contracts are important to create a demonstration effect of IPEF. People understand concrete projects most readily, and this is the innovative approach that IPEF has taken,” Amb. Osius added. “We are eager to support a U.S. Department of Commerce-convened Supply Chain Summit in Washington, D.C. before the end of 2024.” 

In the supply chain pillar, IPEF partners are creating new mechanisms to enhance supply chain resilience, including by sharing information and best practices on supply chain opportunities and vulnerabilities, mobilizing investments to strengthen supply chains, promoting supply chain resilience in critical sectors and key goods, creating crisis response capabilities for supply chain disruptions, and promoting labor rights and workforce development across IPEF supply chains. 

IPEF partners held an inaugural Clean Economy Investor Forum, bringing together many of the region’s top investors to mobilize financing in support of the development and deployment of clean energy and climate friendly technologies and infrastructure in the IPEF economies. During this Forum, IPEF partners identified over $23B of priority infrastructure projects, including roughly $6B of investment-ready projects that proponents presented to investors, ​ 

IPEF partners also launched a Catalytic Capital Fund, which supports the expansion of the pipeline of quality clean economy infrastructure projects in the IPEF emerging and upper-middle income economies under the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement. The Fund’s founding supporters – Australia, Japan, Korea, and the United States – made progress in their respective domestic processes to provide US $33 million of initial grant funding to catalyze up to US $3.3 billion in private investment. The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), which administers the Fund, provided an update to IPEF partners about several initial projects in the pipeline, and discussed additional opportunities to deploy concessional financing, technical assistance, and capacity-building to catalyze private investment. 

“We acknowledge the importance of a Fair Economy, setting ground rules for transparency and predictability for business. We continue to push for momentum and call for more significant progress on the Trade pillar as we strive to level the playing field in newer areas of trade including the digital economy and green economy,” Amb. Osius stated. ​ 

Initiatives devoted to technical assistance and capacity building (TACB) were announced, with the goal of effectively implementing the IPEF Fair Economy Agreement, which aims to improve transparency and predictability in the business environment. ​ These initiatives provide opportunities for IPEF partners to enhance their efforts to prevent and combat corruption and support efforts to improve tax transparency. ​ 

“Increased trade and investment with Southeast Asia is in the strategic interest of the United States as well as for ASEAN member states. Economic growth, commercial opportunities, and jobs are created on both sides of the Pacific”, US-ABC Senior Vice President & Regional Managing Director Amb. Brian McFeeters said. “The USABC East-West Center bi-annual publication “ASEAN Matters for America, America Matters to ASEAN” shows this from data and policy research.” 

“The inclusivity of trade has become increasingly important for ASEAN and the United States. People are at the heart of what we do when we support strengthening and deepening U.S.-ASEAN economic relations,” USABC President & CEO Amb. Ted Osius emphasized.