India Participates in Critical Minerals Ministerial Meeting to Strengthen Global Supply Chains

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw participated in the Critical Minerals Ministerial meeting hosted by United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday (local time), aimed at strengthening and securing global critical minerals supply chains. The meeting came amid growing concerns over vulnerabilities in strategic sectors. Bessent convened a meeting of Finance Ministers at the United States Treasury to discuss solutions to secure and diversify supply chains for critical minerals, especially rare earth elements. “US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent organised a ministerial meeting focused on resilience in the supply chain of critical minerals. As we all know, and especially in India, when the manufacturing sector is growing rapidly, especially electronics manufacturing, it’s very important for all the countries, including India, to have a resilient supply chain of critical minerals," Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “In this meeting, participants from various countries discuss their experience, the steps that they are taking in making the supply chain resilient, especially technology for refining and processing the mineral ores so that high-quality critical minerals, especially the rare earth, permanent magnets can be secured in the long term in a sustainable manner. There were discussions around funding new projects. There were discussions around technology sharing between different countries," he added. In a post on X, the Secretary of the Treasury wrote, “At today’s Finance Ministerial hosted by the @USTreasury, I was pleased to hear a strong, shared desire to quickly address key vulnerabilities in critical minerals supply chains. I am optimistic that nations will pursue prudent derisking over decoupling and understand well the need for decisive action." Secretary Bessent said he was encouraged by the strong, shared commitment among participating nations to quickly address key weaknesses in critical minerals. The meeting brought together finance leaders from Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom, reflecting a broad international consensus on the issue. The United States highlighted actions and investments it has already undertaken, as well as planned steps to create resilient, secure, and diversified critical minerals supply chains, a release said. Secretary Bessent expressed his optimism that nations will pursue prudent derisking over decoupling, and that they understand well the need to remedy current deficiencies in critical minerals supply chains. According to a release, noting that these supply chains have also become highly concentrated and vulnerable to disruption and manipulation, the Secretary urged attendees to increase their supply chain resilience and thanked them for their willingness to both learn from and work quickly with one another toward decisive action and lasting solutions. (With agency inputs)