On Thursday, 12 December, the European Commission hosted a number of meetings for the purposes of the ‘Minerals Security Partnership’ (MSP). Workshops were held on accelerating rare earth projects and identifying new projects to extract, transform, and recycle raw materials in participating countries. The issue of investments in such projects was also addressed.
At the end of these meetings, the European Commission and the governments of 14 countries adopted a joint statement in which they summarise the work accomplished thanks to the ‘MSP’ forum as well as future projects.
According to US Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez, one of the MSP’s strengths is that it brings together private-sector players and financial players who are led to get involved in extraction projects, for example.
Moreover, he believes that cooperation among States with regard to minerals is absolutely crucial inasmuch as there are high levels of dependency and needs are growing. While he did not comment on what the future would hold for this international-level cooperation under Donald Trump’s presidency, he did believe that each [country], including the United States, must be able to count on reliable partners going forward so as to secure its supply of minerals. He also thinks that joint projects such as joint ventures (among companies from several countries) facilitate the establishment of new extraction or processing projects. “It reduces risks [and] requires less capital, and you then gain a partner you will later be able to rely on”, he insisted.
The next MSP meeting will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, on 4 February.
See the joint statement by the MSP participants: https://aeur.eu/f/es3
Partnership with the DRC. On Thursday, 12 December, the EU and the DRC adopted a roadmap that marks the beginning of their Strategic Partnership on Raw Materials (see EUROPE 13157/19). This partnership should support both the EU’s strategic autonomy and the DRC’s economic development, particularly in terms of extraction. It will be implemented through the steps identified in the roadmap, which has not, however, been made public. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)