US Vice President Harris calls for diversifying ‘reliance on essential supplies’

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – US Vice President Kamala Harris called for diversifying reliance on essential supplies during a meeting with top firms in Japan.

“We have to diversify our reliance on essential supplies,” Harris told Japanese corporate executives, adding: “The (COVID-19) pandemic has underscored the weakness of the country’s supply chains.”

Harris, who traveled to Japan to attend the state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday, met the country’s top executives from the chips industry at the US ambassador's residence in Tokyo.

She urged “increased cooperation from Japanese semiconductor companies as chips become more important in ensuring economic growth and security.”

“No one country can satisfy the globe’s demand,” Harris noted.

“Japan and the US share a commitment to work on resilient supply chains and to invest in forward-looking innovation,” Harris said, explaining the CHIPS and Science Act that US President Joe Biden signed into law last month.

Those in attendance to discuss cooperation in the chip industry included Tokyo Electron Ltd., Nikon Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd.

“The US and Japan are facing an urgent need to expand semiconductor production capacity amid recent shortages aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, which have proved that an unstable supply of the components can have huge economic repercussions,” Kyodo News reported.