India and the US on Tuesday signed a bilateral framework covering the supply, mining and processing of critical minerals and rare earth elements. The agreement was announced by external affairs minister S Jaishankar after bilateral discussions and the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting, where the issue also featured prominently.“We are today signing a bilateral India-US framework on securing supplies of mining and processing of critical minerals and rare earths,” Jaishankar said.He added that securing critical minerals had become an important area of cooperation, whether through bilateral partnerships, the Quad, or wider collaborations among like-minded countries.The framework seeks to expand cooperation across different segments of the supply chain, including mining, processing, recycling and investments linked to critical minerals and rare earths.“It will strengthen resilient and diversified supply chains, help us to collaborate on financing and with the effective management of critical minerals and rare earths,” Jaishankar said.He added that the agreement reflected the growing level of cooperation between India and the United States at a time when countries were dealing with multiple global challenges and opportunities.Critical minerals and rare earth elements are widely used in sectors such as high-tech electronics, clean energy technologies, defence systems and electric vehicles. The latest framework comes amid broader efforts to build resilient and diversified supply chains, reducing dependence on single-source suppliers, especially China, which currently dominates the global processing market.
‘Strategic alliance’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the signing highlighted the strategic importance of ties between Washington and New Delhi.“I have spoken often during my time here over the last few days about the strategic alliance between the United States and India and how important that is for our national interest in the United States. And today is a tangible example of it,” Rubio said.He said both countries shared a common interest in building reliable and long-term access to critical minerals and supply chains that support innovation-driven economies.Rubio also referred to earlier engagements between the two sides on the issue, saying the process had begun at the Critical Minerals Forum hosted in Washington on February 4 and later gathered pace when India signed on to Paxilla.“The groundwork was laid for this on the 4th of February when you joined us at the Critical Minerals Forum that we hosted in Washington, DC. It gained momentum later that month when India signed on to Paxilla… and now 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 monopolies 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.“So it’s a pleasure to be here today and 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 United States and India,” Rubio added.
Quad and critical minerals
The Quad nations will also launch a new framework aimed at strengthening critical mineral supply chains, widening cooperation among member countries across the Indo-Pacific region. The initiative seeks to align economic policies and coordinate investments to reduce vulnerabilities in sectors dependent on critical minerals.Rubio announced the framework during the joint press statement, “We’ll announce the Quad Critical Minerals Framework, which will guide each of us to leverage economic policy tools and coordinate investment to strengthen critical mineral supply chains, including in mining and processing and in critical minerals recycling.” Alongside the minerals initiative, the Quad countries also unveiled measures focused on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific. These include the launch of the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Corporation Initiative and the expansion of an existing maritime tracking programme.