India and the United States on Tuesday signed a bilateral framework aimed at securing supplies, mining and processing of important minerals and rare earth elements.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced the historic agreement, highlighting its strategic importance in a hotly contested global landscape following bilateral discussions and a meeting of Quad foreign ministers.
“Today we are signing a bilateral framework between India and the United States on securing supplies of mining and processing of critical minerals and rare earths,” Jaishankar said.
Stressing that this issue was also a key point of discussion during the Quad meeting, the Minister noted that securing these resources is “timely and very crucial,” regardless of whether it is pursued bilaterally, through the Quad format, or within a larger grouping of like-minded countries.
The framework is designed to deepen comprehensive collaboration across the entire critical minerals and rare earths supply chain. According to Jaishankar, the scope of the partnership will include mining, processing, recycling and related investments.
“It will promote resilient and diversified supply chains, and help us collaborate on the financing and effective management of vital minerals and rare earths,” the Foreign Affairs Minister added.
Describing the agreement as a testament to the strengthening partnership between Washington and New Delhi, Jaishankar concluded: “It is another sign of how close our cooperation is in a world where there are so many challenges but also so many opportunities.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed the importance of India to the United States and said that the signing of the agreement is a concrete example of this.
“I’ve talked a lot while I’ve been here over the past few days about the strategic alliance between the United States and India and how important that is to our national interest in the United States. Today is a concrete example of that.”
He stressed that India and the United States are two countries with strategic interests in ensuring reliable long-term access to critical minerals and supply chains that are important to their innovative economies.
Biominerals and rare earth elements are essential components of high-tech electronics, clean energy technologies, defense systems and electric vehicles. The move to diversify these supply chains comes amid global efforts to reduce reliance on single-source suppliers, especially China, which currently dominates the global processing market.
