On Thursday 7 May, the ministers of the G7 countries and their counterparts from Australia and South Korea, along with the European Commission, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the OECD, agreed to reduce dependency and guarantee the industrial and energy sovereignty of each country.
With an eye to the G7 summit in June, the French Presidency has made diversifying and strengthening the resilience of critical minerals value chains one of its key priorities (see EUROPE 13800/21).
“We are laying the foundations for enhanced international cooperation on critical minerals in the run-up to the G7 Finance and Evian Summits. Sovereignty and strategic alliance go hand in hand”, declared the French Minister for the Economy, Roland Lescure, in a press release on Sunday 10 May.
Last Thursday, discussions focused on the joint development of industrial capacities and measures to secure supplies, particularly of rare earths and permanent magnets, based on the recommendations of the IEA.
Ministerial discussions also focused on strengthening cooperation on the traceability and management of strategic stocks. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)