Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday hailed the “positive meeting” organised by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, which discussed the strengthening resilience in the global supply chain of critical minerals.
In the key ministerial meeting organised by Bessent, India highlighted its strong commitment to secure and strengthen critical mineral supply chains.
The Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics & Information Technology participated in the Finance Ministerial on Securing Critical Minerals Supply Chains convened by Bessent on Monday.
The meeting was held to discuss solutions to secure and diversify supply chains for critical minerals, especially rare earth elements, and Vaishnaw and Bessent posted about the same on X.
“Participated in the Critical Minerals Ministerial Meeting hosted by Treasury Secretary @SecScottBessent. Strengthening critical mineral supply chains is vital to enhancing the resilience of India’s manufacturing capabilities and rapidly growing electronics sector,” Vaishnaw said in the post on X.
What was discussed at the meeting?
According to a report by ANI, Vaishnaw, who spoke to the news agency after the ministerial, said that the meeting covered a range of topics. He said it was especially important at a time when manufacturing sectors like electronics manufacturing, are growing rapidly in India and across the world.
“US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent organised a ministerial meeting focused on resilience in the supply chain of critical minerals. As we all know, and especially in India, when the manufacturing sector is growing rapidly, especially electronics manufacturing, it's very important for all the countries, including India, to have a resilient supply chain of critical minerals. In this meeting, participants from various countries discuss their experience, the steps that they are taking in making the supply chain resilient, especially technology for refining and processing the mineral ores so that high-quality critical minerals, especially the rare earth, permanent magnets can be secured in the long term in a sustainable manner,” Vaishnaw told ANI.
“There were discussions around funding new projects. There were discussions around technology sharing between different countries. There were very important discussions about recycling because that's a good way of harnessing the minerals out of the waste products. There were discussions and agreements around sharing research work among different countries. It was a very positive meeting in which the thought process was to improve the quality and availability of critical minerals,” he added.
The Minister further said that strengthening critical mineral supply chains was vital to enhancing the resilience of India's manufacturing capabilities and rapidly growing electronics sector.
