PM Modi to attend Joe Biden’s Indo Pacific Economic Framework launch, in Tokyo

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived in Tokyo on Monday, will meet with top Japanese business leaders and attend the Indo-Pacific economic framework meeting (IPEF).

US President Joe Biden will launch IPEF this evening. The IPEF is a US President's initiative that is seen as a response to Chinese influence in the region. Biden will unveil the IPEF, but the initiative's contents are still unknown.

The PM will be participating in the launch of IPEF. But whether India joins the initiative or negotiations will take place remains to be seen. Through IPEF, the US will be looking for partner countries in the region to work on shared objectives like clean energy, decarbonization, infrastructure, and improving the supply chain

India has often emphasised the importance of a stable supply chain. The Indian Ambassador to Japan, Sanjay Kumar Verma, told ANI that the supply chain will remain the key topic of discussion at the summit.

"When you see prosperity, peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, the supply chain will continue to be the main issue. And that is why India, Japan and Australia signed a trilateral agreement on the supply chain resilience initiative. What has happened is that many of these supply chains are concentrated in one particular geography and whenever that gets disrupted or those who control that geography wish to disrupt than the entire supply chain gets disrupted and people or industries which are  downstream face the music," Ambassador Kumar said.

India will also attend tomorrow's Quad meet, which is expected to refocus attention on the Indo-Pacific region. Many people think of Quad as a counter-force to China, but the Indian envoy to Japan says it isn't aimed at anyone.

"Quad is a positive, constructive agenda. So we don't target a country or a region. What we look forward to is peace and stability in the Indo Pacific region, which should be adhered to. We await to see that international laws are followed and also free and open Indo Pacific is ensured. In our case free, open and inclusive Indo Pacific is seen as a viable option," he said.

The Russian-Ukraine conflict is also expected to dominate the Quad meet on Tuesday.

Ambassador Sanjay Varma said, "I can not predict what the leaders will discuss but yes this is one of the global phenomena at the moment and that development has not only affected geopolitics but also affected energy and food security. So again being an outsider, I should say it will be. Discussed or not discussed, but certainly, it is a major global agenda at the moment."