This session examines the linkages between development, critical minerals, and geopolitics, and asks whether the approach taken by a handful of countries, namely the Minerals Security Partnership, is consistent both with international trade rules and the Sustainable Development Goals.

In doing so, it unpacks the origins and working of the Minerals Security Partnership, while also discussing how access to critical minerals became a fulcrum for de-risking strategies and geopolitical rivalries. However, this panel also explores how critical minerals, when harnessed appropriately, have provided a pathway to sustainable development outcomes in a number of emerging markets, and how this has required the efforts of governments, corporates and civil society to succeed.

Finally, this panel seeks to provide answers on how governments can adopt and implement critical mineral strategies that support international cooperation for development rather than setting the stage for further system fragmentation and confrontation, and proposes a series of steps for a multi-stakeholder approach to achieve the desired outcomes.