No country should use critical minerals as a weapon: PM Modi at Brics

Business Standard

7 hours ago

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday (India time), urged Brics member states to work together to make supply chains for critical minerals and technology secure and reliable.
In his intervention at the session during the Brics Summit in Rio de Janeiro on 'strengthening multilateralism, economic-financial matters, and artificial intelligence', the PM said: 'It's important to ensure that no country uses these resources for its own selfish gain or as a weapon against others,' the PM stated.
China, which controls a significant share of the world's supply of critical minerals, especially rare earth elements, is a founder, along with India, Russia, and Brazil, of the 11-member Brics grouping, whose 17th Summit concluded on Monday evening. With Chinese President Xi Jinping skipping the summit, Premier Li Qiang represented China in Rio.
A key objective of the PM's current foreign tour, his longest in a decade, is to focus on increasing cooperation in imports and processing of critical minerals, including rare earth elements, in four of the five countries he has visited or is scheduled to visit – Ghana, Namibia, Argentina, and Brazil.
India's search for sourcing critical minerals, led by the PM, and his observations at the BRICS Summit in Rio come in the context of China's coercive tactics, including restricting supply and price manipulation in the sector.
In his intervention, the PM welcomed the 17th Summit's emphasis on reforms in the international financial system. He said the Brics New Development Bank (NDB) has offered a strong and credible alternative to support the development aspirations of countries in the Global South. While approving projects, the NDB must focus on demand-driven approaches, long-term financial sustainability, and maintaining a healthy credit rating, Modi said. 'Strengthening our internal systems will further enhance the credibility of our call for reformed multilateralism,' he added.
The PM also flagged concerns about risks, ethics, and bias in artificial intelligence, and appealed to member countries to work together for 'responsible AI,' for which 'global standards must be created to verify the authenticity of digital content, so that we can identify the source of the content, maintain transparency, and prevent misuse.' He said India will host the 'AI Impact Summit' next year. India will also host the 18th BRICS Summit in 2026.
A day after the Brics Rio de Janeiro Declaration voiced 'serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules,' US President Donald Trump said he would impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on any country aligning with 'the Anti-American policies of BRICS'. 'There will be no exceptions to this policy,' Trump stated in a Truth Social post.