French media: Australia and India invited to G7 critical minerals meeting
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bensont said that Australia and several other countries will attend the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers' meeting he will chair in Washington on Monday, discussing issues related to critical mineral resources. Bensont said that since the G7 summit last summer, efforts have been underway to hold a separate meeting on this issue, and the finance ministers had already held an online meeting in December last year.
Bensont said during an interview with Reuters after visiting Winnebago Industries' engineering laboratory in the Minneapolis area, that India was also invited to attend this meeting. However, he said it is still uncertain whether India has accepted the invitation. It is currently unclear which other countries have been invited.
The G7 consists of the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and the European Union, most of whose member states heavily rely on China's rare earth supply. The group reached an action plan last June aimed at securing supply chains and promoting economic development.
Australia signed an agreement with the United States last October aimed at countering China's dominance in the critical minerals sector. The agreement includes a series of projects worth $8.5 billion and uses Australia's planned strategic reserves, which will be used to supply metals such as rare earths and lithium, which are vulnerable to supply disruptions. Australia said it has since received cooperation proposals from Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.
According to the International Energy Agency, China dominates the supply chain for critical minerals, refining 47% to 87% of the global total of copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite, and rare earths. These minerals are widely used in defense technology, semiconductors, renewable energy components, batteries, and refining processes. In recent years, Western countries have been seeking to reduce their reliance on China's critical minerals due to China's strict export controls on rare earths.
The meeting on Monday, the 12th, was held days after reports emerged that China had begun restricting exports of rare earths and their magnet products to Japanese companies and had strengthened dual-use item exports to Japan. Additionally, Bensont said that China is still fulfilling its commitments to purchase U.S. soybeans and export key minerals to U.S. companies.
Source: rfi
Original: toutiao.com/article/1853933226147847/
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