Ministers team up in strengthening global supply chain resilience

Australian and U.S. ministers have joined in a virtual forum to discuss strengthening global supply chain resilience.

Industry and science minister Ed Husic joined a virtual ministerial forum, hosted by the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, to discuss collective long-term strategies to build supply chain resilience.

In the meeting, Minister Husic emphasised the importance of having both a national and international approach in addressing stresses in global supply chain.

He also explained how critical the role of governments is to step in and support businesses and workers where the supply of essential goods and services is at risk of significant disruption.

“Collaboration with international partners is vital to building more resilient, transparent and diverse global supply chains,” Minister Husic said.

“That’s why Australia needs to work with like-minded countries to ensure access to essential goods and services are supported particularly when there is disruption,” he said.

“The voices of businesses, workers and community groups are central to these discussions as they are the first line of defence for maintaining well-functioning supply chains.”

The Global Supply Chain Resilience Forum is the largest multilateral forum focused on supply chain resilience and complements with Australia’s other international engagements on supply chains such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the Quadrilateral Security Forum.

Discussions during the meeting will also be used during the federal government’s Jobs and Skills Summit in September, which will address workforce skills shortages.

Minister Husic said the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund will drive co-investments in projects that address vulnerabilities in critical supply chain while the Buy Plan Australia will ensure that we can make use of government procurement as a major economic lever to strategically address supply chain risk.

“Our Government is committed to respond to important views raised by stakeholders at the Forum including the need to ensure there is adequate workforce in times of crisis, the critical role of public procurement in strengthening and diversifying supply chains, and the need for substantial public-private partnerships to build critical supply chain resilience,” he said.

“With Australia’s ongoing investments in building our supply chain monitoring capability, we are in a great position to work with interested governments, to provide advice and support collaborative actions to strengthen key global supply chains in a way that will benefit us all,” he concluded.

The Global Supply Chain Resilience Forum was also attended by ministers from the UK, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, India, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, EU, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Source: The Hon Ed Husic MP media release