Goyal also held bilateral discussions with his counterparts from other countries

India will take decisions on different aspects of the framework of the India-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF) based on national interest, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said on Friday.

He was interacting with the media after attending the IPEF's first in-person ministerial meeting in Los Angeles, USA.

He also held discussions with Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai. Later on, the Union Minister met his counterparts from the US, Australia, Japan, and Vietnam.

While interacting with the media, the Union Minister noted that there had been extremely successful meetings with the 14 IPEF members and added that officials from member countries had worked really hard to provide the groundwork for such beneficial interactions.

He underscored the expectation that the IPEF will complete the foundation for member countries to communicate on several topics of shared concern in a day's time.

Discussing his talks with the US side, he stated that they were enthusiastic and were supportive of increasing trade and investment, notably in high-tech fields, and they want to strengthen the two countries' robust supply chains.

Speaking further on the talks with the US, Piyush Goyal stated that they agreed that both sides should have self-reliance as a fundamental value and resilient supply networks between reliable allies that support open markets and rules-based trade systems.

In response to a question about problems with market access, the Union Minister announced that an India-US Trade Policy Forum will soon be conducted during which will come up with more deliverables and novel areas of interaction

In response to a query on the digital economy, the Union Minister stated that India is working on a more robust framework that will be shortly presented to Parliament. It has received a positive feedback from the US and Indian firms, he added.

He said that with the advent of work-from-home prospects, young people, particularly those in distant and tier 2 and 3 locations, now have new chances to offer cost-effective solutions to US firms, and these opportunities have been met with tremendous enthusiasm by US enterprises.

Referring to the meetings he had with US businesses in India, Davos, the Bay Area, and the WTO summit, he stated that these encounters gave him hope that US businesses are planning to increase hiring in India. He said,

"Numbers they are indicating in terms of their hiring plans are truly staggering."

In response to a question about the upskilling initiative he launched in San Francisco, SETU, the Union Minister said that India would also benefit from it because children, particularly girls, who have tremendous potential, stand to gain from the training and upskilling being offered by the reputable companies that are part of the initiative.