S. Korea stresses need for stable global critical minerals supply at MSP meeting

SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has highlighted the need to ensure a stable global supply of critical minerals, such as nickel and cobalt, used for advanced technologies, as it presided over a multilateral meeting on critical mineral supply in New York this week.

The 14-member Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) meeting took place on Thursday, led by South Korea's Second Vice Foreign Minister Kang In-sun, the foreign ministry in Seoul said in a release Friday.

The MSP was launched in 2022 by the U.S. to strengthen the global supply of and promote investment in critical minerals, such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. The United States, Japan, Canada, France and the European Union are among the member countries.

The alliance is largely seen as a partnership that aims to reduce the risk of dependence on China for raw materials.

At the meeting, Kang pointed out that establishing a stable supply chain of critical minerals is the top priority for the MSP and she vowed efforts to produce a substantive outcome from various MSP projects under way.

Some 32 MSP projects are ongoing with an aim to diversify the sourcing of the critical minerals, including a graphite project in Tanzania, in which South Korea's steel giant POSCO is involved.

elly@yna.co.kr
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