US, Indo-Pacific partners holding talks in Singapore on clean energy

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is holding a ministerial meeting this week in Singapore, including major firms joining a “Clean Economy” investor forum to boost infrastructure and climate investments across the region.

It marks the first in-person IPEF ministerial session since the substantial conclusion of negotiations for the IPEF Clean Economy Agreement and the Fair Economy Agreement in November in San Francisco.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the countries plan to outline steps under each of the agreements this week.

“We’re going to finalize all of those agreements at the ministerial,” Raimondo said. Additional announcements are expected on a supply chain agreement, she said.

The IPEF Clean Economy Investor Forum includes 22 major U.S. companies such as Amazon.com (NASDAQ:)’s AWS Bechtel, Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google, Microsoft (NASDAQ:), BlackRock (NYSE:), Bechtel, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and KKR. Raimondo said there also will be major Australian and Japanese investors at the forum.

“Government-to-government agreements are great,” Raimondo said. “But honestly it’s time to implement – put some points on the board. … We hope to start doing deals and making investments in the clean economy in the IPEF countries.”

Raimondo said each country has submitted their top clean economy projects “and then we’re going to have matchmaking sessions at the investor forum.” Raimondo said the projects include renewable energy generation such as solar and wind, energy transmission and other infrastructure, transportation and mobility projects.

She said she hopes in the coming months the forum will lead to multibillion-dollar investments in places such as Thailand and Malaysia.

“They’re looking to attract investment to their climate-related infrastructure,” Raimondo said. “These countries want to hit their own climate goals and build up their own infrastructure, but they need capital and that’s what we’re going to bring to the equation.”

The “Fair Economy” agreement is aimed at fighting corruption and tax evasion. Countries this week are expected to detail anti-corruption pledges and tax transparency measures.

“It enables all the rest of this thing to work,” Raimondo added.

Countries participating in IPEF are Australia, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States.