On Friday 5 April, the European Union, the United States, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine announced the launch of the Minerals Security Partnership Forum (‘MSP Forum’). The Forum, led by the EU and the United States, currently includes more than fifteen countries, both inside and outside the EU: Australia, Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uzbekistan. The ambition of these partners is to extend participation to other countries on all continents.
The initiative merges the idea of a club on critical materials, previously announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) already created by Washington. The aim is to bring together countries that are rich in raw materials and countries that import these products to offer ‘win-win’ partnerships. The Forum should “become a unique platform for shaping global policies on critical raw materials”, according to the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis.
In recent months, the EU has signed several memorandums of understanding with countries rich in critical raw materials (see other news) to secure its value chains, but needs to go even further to diversify its sources of supply.
The work of the MSP Forum consists of: - a project group on the implementation of sustainable projects linked to critical minerals; - a policy dialogue to identify policies to promote the implementation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in supply chains.
The Forum is based on MSP principles to which the partners must adhere. They include commitments to diversify global supply chains to meet ESG criteria. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)