Tag: supply chain

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Global South Pushes Supply Chain Improvements

They reaffirmed the crucial role of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Data for Development in boosting growth, improving delivery of public services and accelerating development…reports Asian Lite News

At the Second Voice of the Global South Summit, leaders underscored their commitment to promoting effective integration of the partner countries for stronger global efforts to improve supply chains, facilitate access to markets and keep global supply chains open, secure, trusted, stable, accessible and peaceful.

The Global South leaders further highlighted the role of South-South cooperation in this regard and discussed ways to promote mutual cooperation and investments amongst the Global South countries.

Leaders from the Global South countries gathered at the second virtual ‘Voice of the Global South Summit’ organized by India, under the theme: ‘Global South: Together for Everyone’s Growth, Everyone’s Trust’ on Friday.

On the issue of technological transformation, leaders of the Global South countries, recognized that technology can offer unprecedented opportunities. They called for more equitable access to the benefits of the digital economy including by addressing the risks and challenges emerging from the use of technologies and ensuring that the benefits of these technologies are available to all, the summit statement said.

They reaffirmed the crucial role of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Data for Development in boosting growth, improving delivery of public services and accelerating development.

Leaders called for reinvigorating a more inclusive multilateralism, including through reform of the multilateral system for implementing the 2030 Agenda and achieving its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They reiterated the call for comprehensive reforms of the United Nations, with the Security Council at its core, to make it ‘fit for purpose’ to effectively address contemporary global challenges.

They emphasised that a reformed United Nations must be faithful to its founding principles and adapt to carrying out its mandate. Leaders further reaffirmed the need for better integrating the perspectives of developing countries in international agendas so as to make the global governance systems more inclusive, representative and consultative.

“Leaders recognized women’s central and irrefutable role in sustainable development and expressed their commitments to promoting women-led development and enhancing women’s full, equal, effective, and meaningful participation as decision-makers for addressing global challenges, ” the statement added.

They acknowledged that women’s contribution as active participants in all spheres of society, across all sectors and at all levels of the economy is not only crucial for achieving gender equality but also for contributing to global GDP growth and sustainable development.

They expressed their concerns about the ongoing crises and their impact on the 2030 agenda. In this regard, the leaders called for following bold, ambitious, accelerated, just and transformative actions, anchored in international solidarity and effective cooperation at all levels. Leaders especially called for a collective focus on enhancing resilience in our economies, societies, healthcare systems, education systems and infrastructure.

They called for transforming education and for implementing One Health approach and strengthening health systems. They further reiterated that States will not be able to achieve the ambitious Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda without a revitalized and enhanced global partnership and comparably ambitious means of implementation.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the two summits of the Global South sent a big message to the world that the Global South wants ‘autonomy’ and its voice should be heard on global governance.

“Two summits of the Global South being held in a year and a large participation in it send out a big message to the world. The message is: Global South wants its autonomy, Global South wants its voice to be heard on Global Governance, Global South is ready to take big responsibility on global issues…India is proud that during an important forum like the G20, we got the opportunity to put the voice of the Global South on the agenda,” he said.

He added, “The credit for this goes to your strong support and firm belief in India. For this, I am really grateful to you. And I believe that was raised during the G20 summit will be echoed in upcoming forums.”

While speaking at the Concluding Leaders Session of the Voice of Global South Summit, PM Modi went on to mention the humanitarian aid sent by India to multiple countries during tough times and emphasised continuing in the upcoming days. (ANI)

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UK Easing Visa Rules to Tackle Supply Chain Crisis

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to sign off on the plan to relax visa requirements that would allow lorry drivers back into the UK to tackle the fuel and food supply shortages, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk

In a post-Brexit U-turn, the UK government is planning a temporary visa scheme to make it easier for foreign lorry drivers to work in the UK.

Final details are expected this weekend, but any changes to immigration rules would be temporary, and there would be a cap on the number of workers allowed to enter the country, the BBC reported.

According to The Daily Telegraph, up to 5,000 temporary visas for HGV drivers are expected to be granted under the plans.

Ministers met on Friday to agree the proposals, which are also expected to see military driving examiners brought in to increase the number of HGV tests that can be conducted in a bid to boost the supply of British drivers, it was reported.

visa
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Credit No 10)

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Home Secretary Priti Patel, who had voiced her opposition within the Government to calls for the recruitment of more European drivers, was present at the meeting and is understood to have agreed to the plan, according to the report.

A shortage of drivers has disrupted fuel deliveries, with some petrol stations closing, and queues forming.

It is estimated that the UK is short of about 100,000 HGV drivers – with existing shortages made worse by the pandemic and Brexit, the BBC reported.

Earlier, Road Haulage Association had urged the government to reconsider relaxing visa requirements for lorry drivers. Rod McKenzie, managing director of policy for the trade body, said ministers were rejecting calls for short-term visas to be introduced.

Sainsbury’s said it was experiencing “high demand” for fuel, with a “tiny proportion of sites” temporarily closed.

BP said about 20 of its 1,200 petrol forecourts were closed, with between 50 and 100 sites affected by the loss of at least one grade of fuel.

A “small number” of Tesco refilling stations have also been impacted, said Esso owner ExxonMobil, which runs the sites.

EG Group, which has 341 petrol stations in the UK, is introducing a limit of £30 per customer on all grades of fuel due to “unprecedented customer demand”.

The government and industry leaders have sought to reassure the public – saying there is no fuel shortage at refineries, and urging people not to panic buy.

Meanwhile, businesses across the food and fuel sectors had also been complaining about the UK’s shortage of lorry drivers, which is causing serious supply chain problems.

Supply chain delays had been “impacted by industry wide driver shortages across the UK” and that the company was working hard to address the issues, BP said in a statement on Thursday.

Esso station

Esso said that a “small number” of its 200 Tesco Alliance retail sites were also affected on Thursday and apologised to customers for any inconvenience.

Supermarkets Morrisons and Ocado have also called on the government to add HGV drivers to its skills shortage jobs list to allow workers from the European Union (EU) to fill the current gap.

Speaking on the BBC on Thursday night, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that he believed the shortages had also been caused because of working conditions that “hadn’t been pleasant”.

When asked if he would be looking at changes to visas to address workforce shortages, he said that he would not “rule out anything”.

But he insisted that the “bottleneck” was getting new drivers tested and bringing people back into the job market after the pandemic, it was reported.

Meanwhile, millions of households are concerned about the rising cost of wholesale global gas this Autumn and Winter.

According to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, rising gas prices is a global problem, reflecting an increased demand across the world for gas as economies around the world reopens from the COVID-19 pandemic.

It said the government is working closely with energy stakeholders to discuss the impact of the increased wholesale gas prices, “but consumers should not worry about their energy supply.”

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Quad officials discuss cooperation on supply chain, critical technologies

The overdependence on China has been exposed during the Covid-19 pandemic as the world faced critical shortages due to supply chain problems while China was in a race to gain an edge in critical technologies…reports Arul Louis.

Senior officials of the Quad countries on Thursday explored collaboration to ensure resilient supply chains and in the areas of emerging and critical technologies to move their cooperation to a newer level.

India’s External Affairs Ministry, in a statement after the virtual meeting, said: “The Officials discussed issues of common interest and explored possibilities of collaboration in resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, cyber security, counter-terrorism, infrastructure and connectivity, higher education, climate change and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.”

The overdependence on China has been exposed during the Covid-19 pandemic as the world faced critical shortages due to supply chain problems while China was in a race to gain an edge in critical technologies.

A statement from Tokyo said that Vani Rao, the Joint Secretary for the Americas, and Naveen Srivastava, the Additional Secretary for East Asia, represented India at the meeting.

The other participants in the meeting included Richard Buangan, the acting senior official for the East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Dean Thompson, the acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, representing the US; Edo Kazuya, Japan’s Deputy Director General for Asian and Oceania, and Justin Hayhurst, Australia’s Deputy Secretary for the Indo-Pacific, it added.

It also said that the Quad officials discussed holding an in-person summit of the Quad leaders by the end of this year.

Thursday’s meeting followed up the virtual Quad summit of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi, Yoshihide Sugo of Japan and Scott Morrison of Australia, and US President Joe Biden held in March.

At the summit, India was given the key role of producing one billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines for distribution in the region under a programme that will be financed by Japan and the US, with Australia providing the distribution logistics.

The statement from India on the meeting of the senior diplomats said that they reviewed the progress of the Quad vaccine programme and discussed “the wide-ranging impact of Covid-19 in the Indo-Pacific region, and the importance of collaborative efforts to contain the pandemic, ensure health security and a quick economic recovery”.

The situation in India’s neighbour Myanmar, where the military has blocked the democratically elected civilian leaders and jailed them, also figured during the meeting.

A statement on the meeting by the US State Department said the crisis was discussed and that they “reaffirmed the Quad’s strong support for ASEAN centrality”.

Taking up topics of Washington’s priorities, the statement said they discussed ways to advance cooperation in countering disinformation, promoting democracy and human rights.

None of the three statements on the meeting named China, whose threats to the region and beyond are the impetus for the four democracies to increase their level of cooperation.

But the China factor was noted in the US statement which spoke of “supporting countries vulnerable to coercive actions in the Indo-Pacific region”.

The statement from Tokyo noted that the situation in the East and South China Seas was discussed.

China has been carrying out belligerent actions directed at Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia in that area.

Japan’s statement added that the vision for a “free and open” Indo-Pacific was gaining momentum beyond the region in the post-Covid world.

“This vision has spread in the international community, including ASEAN and Europe,” it said, adding that the officials “reaffirmed the importance of broadening cooperation with more countries for its further achievement”.

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