Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal will continue on the second leg of his tour of the US and travel to Los Angeles today (8 September) to attend the first in-person ministerial meeting of the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF), an official release said on Thursday.

Interacting with media ahead of the IPEF ministerial meet, Goyal said that discussions at IPEF would focus on opening opportunities for the member nations to work in partnership with each other to ensure that particularly during challenges and difficult times, supply chains remain open and business and people of countries don’t suffer because of chaotic conditions like COVID and conflict, according to a Commerce Ministry release.

Terming IPEF as a new and unique initiative and a partnership between rules-based, like-minded countries which have transparent economic systems, Goyal said that IPEF would work to ensure that the Indo-Pacific Region would remain secure and open for business.

Elaborating further, the minister said that at the IPEF ministerial, discussions would focus on facilitating open trade, keeping supply chains open.

He said that as trading relations with IPEF nations expand, investments, both from and into India, would also get a leg up.

All the countries meeting tomorrow have a lot to offer each other in terms of trade, investments and technology and we will work together on all fronts, he added.