By Seekriti Saha
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, attended the high-level discussion along with the finance ministers of the Group of Seven Nations (G7) and Australia to address the ways to decrease the reliance on rare earth from China. The meeting hosted by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington, D.C.
Vaishnaw said, “Arrived in Washington, DC. Will participate in the Critical Minerals Ministerial Meeting tomorrow. Secure critical mineral supply chains are vital for our goal of Viksit Bharat,” in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The US Treasury stated that Bessant aimed to discuss “to discuss solutions to secure and diversify supply chains for critical minerals, especially rare earth elements.”Moreover, he said that he is hopeful that countries will choose “prudent de-risking over decoupling” from China.
According to the International Energy Agency, China is leading in the refining of major critical minerals such as lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and rare earth minerals. It occupies around 70 percent of the market share. The agency flagged its control over elements like phosphoric acid and manganese sulphate, which are used in batteries and also in advanced manufacturing.
Satsuki Katayama, Japan’s finance minister, told the reporters that there was agreement on the need to swiftly reduce dependency on the rare earth minerals of China.
Lars Klingbeil, the German Finance Minister, said that it is extremely essential to that Europe does not sit back neither complain nor self pity as it does not help.They have to be active about it.
India is also going to participate in the Pax Silica initiative, which is led by the US. India is a Quad partner in the Pax Silica initiative, which is going to be conducted by Delhi. India was not initially included in it. It includes Japan, the US, South Korea, the Netherlands, the UK, Singapore, the UAE, Israel, and Australia.
India will also join another critical mineral meeting led by the US before the Artificial Intelligence Impact summit takes place on 19-20th February in New Delhi.
The minerals are vital for semiconductors, defense technologies, renewable energy components, refining processes, and batteries.