Washington, Feb 5 A leading U.S. business advocacy group on Thursday welcomed India’s participation in the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial here, calling it a significant step toward strengthening supply chains vital to technology, economic growth, and national security.
The U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) said India’s participation, led by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, marked a historic engagement hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.
“This historic engagement will create momentum for collaboration to secure the critical mineral supply chains vital to technological innovation, economic strength, and national security,” USISPF said in a statement.
The forum said India is emerging as a pivotal player in critical minerals, citing some of the world’s largest reserves of key resources, including rare earth elements, along with a rapidly expanding exploration and auction pipeline.
USISPF said leveraging India’s geological endowment is essential to unlock significant economic opportunity while reducing global overdependence on a few concentrated supply sources.
It said such efforts would support advanced manufacturing, sustainable energy, and high-tech jobs, while reinforcing supply chains critical to long-term economic resilience.
USISPF said it supports a critical mineral framework agreement that provides a template to ensure the United States and India have access to critical minerals through standards for government and private investment.
These standards, it said, should cover mining, processing, and recycling, as well as price guarantees that protect producers from competitors’ unfair trade policies.
The forum said it strongly supports efforts to deepen government–industry collaboration, including “codeveloping transparent and predictable policy frameworks” and “promoting joint ventures and technology partnerships across the mine to market value chain.”
“These steps are vital to translating India’s resource potential into real projects and bankable, long-term contracts that underpin both countries’ energy security and industrial competitiveness,” the statement said.
It pointed to President Donald Trump’s “Project Vault” as one such effort that could strengthen critical minerals cooperation tied to economic and national security, technological leadership, and a resilient energy future.
The forum said stronger cooperation on critical minerals is key to ensuring long-term industrial competitiveness and safeguarding supply chains that underpin emerging technologies.
--IANS
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