New Delhi: India and the US on Tuesday firmed up a key framework for cooperation in ensuring steady supplies of critical minerals, a move that comes amid growing concerns over China’s export controls on rare earth elements and strategic metals vital for global technology supply chains.
The framework on securing supplies of mining and processing of critical minerals was signed on the sidelines of the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi.
“It is something very timely and critical,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in presence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“This framework aims to deepen our cooperation across the entire critical minerals and rare earth supply chain, including mining, processing, recycling and related investment,” he said.
Critical minerals are considered vital for high-end technology products including electric vehicles (EVs), drones, and battery storage. China has been a dominant player in the critical minerals supply chain globally.
India has been looking at a steady supply of rare earth minerals to fuel its economic growth. China accounts for around 70 per cent of global rare earth mining that makes it a very dominant player in the global supply chain of the critical minerals.
In his remarks, the external affairs minister said the framework will strengthen resilient and diversified supply chains, help finance projects, and ensure effective management of critical minerals and rare earths.
“It is one more sign of how close our cooperation has been in a world where there are so many challenges but also so many opportunities,” he said.
In his remarks, Rubio highlighted the strategic partnership between the US and India and its importance for the respective national interests of both countries.
“It is a tangible example of that,” Rubio said referring to the inking of the pact.
“We are two countries that have strategic interests in ensuring reliable long-term access to critical minerals and supply chains that are important for our innovation economy,” he said.
A readout by the US said the agreement marked a milestone in the strategic partnership between the two nations to ensure that the foundational elements required for advanced technology and energy are available within trusted networks.
Through this framework, the US and India will engage in international efforts to protect sensitive supply chains from coercive market practices and reduce our collective vulnerability to single-source monopolies, it said.
The US government is mobilising unprecedented resources to secure critical mineral supply chains, supporting projects with more than USD 30 billion in investments, loans, and other support in partnership with the private sector.
These investments, along with Pax Silica and “our reinvigorated diplomatic and commercial engagement” are having a multiplier effect, mobilising private capital many times greater than government outlays, the readout said.
Rubio also mentioned the US-backed Pax Silica initiative.
“The groundwork was laid for this on February 4 when you joined us at the Critical Minerals Forum that we hosted in Washington DC,” he said, adding it gained momentum after India signed on to Pax Silica.
“Today, because we both have a strategic and shared interest in the fact that vibrant innovation economies such as ours cannot afford to leave the foundational materials of these industries vulnerable to single source monopoly that could deny us these things, not just in a time of conflict, but as a leverage point contrary to our sovereign national interests,” he said.
“I’m glad we were able to sign this because in addition to being an important document and important agreement, it brings a tangible example of the strategic partnership between the US and India,” he said.
Pax Silica initiative was launched in December to build a secure, resilient, and innovation-driven supply chain for critical minerals and artificial intelligence.
