Quad countries are aiming to counter China’s dominance.
The Quad countries — the United States, Japan, Australia, and India — agreed this week to make major investments in critical mineral supply chains. At their meeting in New Delhi, the foreign ministers of the four countries adopted a new framework designed to make the supply of strategically important minerals more secure, diversified, and resilient. According to the partners, up to $20 billion in public and private funding could be mobilized. The initiative is intended to support projects in mining, processing, and recycling of critical minerals. Financing could come from sources including export credit agencies, development banks, private investors, guarantees, loans, equity investments, and offtake agreements.
The goal of the initiative is to reduce dependencies in global raw material supply chains and develop alternative sources of supply. China currently dominates the markets for many materials that are essential to high-tech industries, including rare earths and germanium.
The Quad is a grouping of the United States, Japan, Australia, and India that serves as a forum for security and economic coordination in the Indo-Pacific. The United States and India had previously announced plans for closer cooperation on raw materials, as reported earlier.
Photo: via Canva, Montage rawmaterials.net
