Australia has joined other nations to strengthen cooperation on global supply chains. Minister for Industry and Science 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.
The Global Supply Chain Resilience Forum is the largest multilateral forum focused on supply chain resilience and complements Australia’s other international engagements on supply chains such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the Quadrilateral Security Forum.
In the meeting, Minister Husic underpinned the importance of having both a national and international approach in addressing stresses in global supply chain and the role of governments to step in and support businesses and workers where the supply of essential goods and services is at risk of significant disruption.
Minister Husic said resilient global supply chains reinforced the prosperity, security and wellbeing of the nation.
“Collaboration with international partners is vital to building more resilient, transparent and diverse global supply chains. 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,” Minister Husic 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. 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.” Minister Husic said.
In September, the Australian Government will host a Jobs and Skills Summit, bringing unions, businesses, civil society and local governments together to build a bigger and more productive workforce and address skills shortages.
The Government’s $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.
“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,” Minister Husic said.
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.
