About IPBF 2021

The 2021 Indo-Pacific Business Forum (IPBF 2021) was jointly hosted by the Government of the United States and the Republic of India, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, U.S.-India Business Council, U.S.–India Strategic Partnership Forum, AmCham India, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce, and the Confederation of Indian Industry. The two-day event was held virtually on October 28-29, 2021, with more than 2300 participants from 67 countries registered to participate in this marquee event.

Building upon the success of previous Forums, IPBF 2021 welcomed senior government officials, industry executives and other participants to discuss a range of topics over two days through a series of keynote and breakout virtual events. Topics included the Build Back Better World Partnership, pandemic recovery, digital economy, clean energy transition, regional health investments, and broader infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific region.

IPBF Outcomes

Among numerous public-private partnerships and agreements that were announced over the two-day conference, IPBF 2021 provided a platform for the announcement of several major infrastructure deals that were supported by or aimed to advance the Indo-Pacific Strategy. This included highlighting more than US$7 billion in commercial deals and government programs.

2021 Featured Speakers

  • Antony J. Blinken

    Secretary of State

    U.S. Department of State

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  • John Kerry

    Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

    U.S. Department of State

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  • Naoshi Hirose

    Vice-Minister for International Affairs

    Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Japan (METI)

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IPBF 2021 featured U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken alongside India’s Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The U.S. government delegation included U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh, and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry alongside representatives from the U.S. Departments of State, the Treasury, Commerce, Energy, and Transportation; the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, U.S. Export-Import Bank, Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. representative to the Asian Development Bank.

Other senior officials participating in the Forum were Congressmen Gregory Meeks (NY- 5), Ami Bera (CA-07), Steve Chabot (OH-1), as well as U.S. Ambassadors to Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos along with senior leadership of regional missions from Fiji, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and ASEAN.