Indo-Pacific Business Summit 2021
- The Indo-Pacific Business Summit 2021 organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, is starting Today.
- he summit comes in the wake of the Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative (IPOI), which was announced by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi during the 14th East Asian Summit.
About Summit:
- The 2-day summit, starting from July 6- 8, will focus on how India and the countries of the Indo-Pacific region can boost their economic partnership, collaborate for sustainable use of maritime resources, future economic development, along with the idea of free trade will be stressed upon.
- A total of 21 countries are going to participate in the Indo-Pacific Business Summit 2021, in which the participating countries account for US$ 40.6 billion of GDP.
- Participating counties comprise 2.9 billion people and a 92 per cent business-to-GDP ratio.
What is Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative?
- It was launched on 4 November 2019 by PM Narendra Modi launched the Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative (IPOI) at the East Asia Summit. The IPOI seeks to ensure the security and stability of the regional maritime sector.
- IPOI is an open, non-treaty based initiative for countries to work together for cooperative and collaborative solutions to common challenges in the region.
- Indo-Pacific region comprises:
- 38 countries,
- accounts for 44 per cent of the world surface area,
- home to more than 64 per cent of the world population, and
- accounts for 62 per cent of global GDP with over 50 per cent of global trade passes through its waters.
- The region is highly heterogeneous with countries at different levels of development linked by a common thread of the ocean.
- IPOI is based on the existing regional architecture and mechanism to focus on seven pillars:
- Maritime Security
- Maritime Ecology
- Maritime Resources
- Capacity Building and Resource Sharing
- Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
- Science, Technology and Academic Cooperation
- Trade Connectivity and Maritime Transport
India’s current trade status in the Indo-Pacific:
- India’s trade with select Indo-Pacific economies stood at $262 billion (exports $129 billion, imports $133 billion) in 2020
- The total share of India’s trade with select Indo-Pacific countries in 2020 was,
- With USA- (Export- 38 per cent, Import- 20 per cent),
- UAE (Export- 14 per cent, Import- 18 per cent),
- Singapore (Export- 6 per cent, imports – 9 per cent).
- For further increase in trade, India is focusing on sectors such as infrastructure, logistics, digital transformation, startups, food and agriculture, clean energy, health care and life sciences in the Indo-Pacific Business Summit 2021"