AKIPRESS.COM - Commerce and Trade ministers from Australia, India and Japan agreed on Tuesday to develop principles that will strengthen supply chains through better data management in the Indo-Pacific region, Nikkei Asia reported.

Koichi Hagiuda, Japan's minister for economy, trade and industry, hosted a virtual meeting with his counterparts Piyush Goyal from India and Dan Tehan of Australia. The three later issued a joint statement calling for "supply-chain principles" in the Indo-Pacific. The principles are due to be finalized next year.

A key point to emerge from the meeting was that a stronger supply chain had become more crucial in light of Russia – Ukraine conflict.

The supply chain principles will set forth standards to be followed in terms of sharing logistics and other data and for improving transparency. For example, governments would not be involved in data sharing.

The three countries will consider whether to add a provision eliminating forced labour from the supply chain.

Australia, India and Japan will support joint projects in the automotive, electronic device and health care sectors. The countries will also promote the sharing of carbon emissions data arising from production lines.

The trade ministers decided to hold the trilateral meeting once a year. In 2023, Japan and India will serve as chairs of the Group of Seven and Group of 20 economies, respectively. Both countries seek to take the lead in the supply-chain debate.

Australia, India and Japan are members of QUAD Security Dialogue group with the United States.