Estonia and US pursue rare earths agreement

Estonia and the United States are working towards an agreement on rare earth metals to strengthen supply security, ERR reported. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the talks were not about Estonia’s mineral resources but about developing local industry and attracting new investment.

China controls most of the global rare earth metals market and has significantly restricted exports in recent years. The United States is seeking agreements with other partners to diversify supply and secure supply chains.

Estonia has one of the larger production and processing capacities for rare earth metals. Both sides are interested in closer cooperation, although the talks are still at an early stage.

“Our interest is for Estonia to develop, at least on a European scale, the largest centre of knowledge and development,” Tsahkna said. He added that Estonia also wanted to attract investment, strengthen its role in the rare earth metals network and pursue security policy objectives.

Poland, the United Kingdom and Japan are among the countries that have already joined the US initiative. On Thursday, Lithuania signed a cooperation agreement with the United States during a visit by its foreign minister to Washington.

“This is currently our second foreign policy priority; the first is security,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said. He said Lithuania needed to address economic challenges, build a strategic partnership with the United States and create a resilient and strong supply chain.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said reliable supplies and processing of rare earth metals were fundamental to the 21st-century economy and important for both the economy and defence. He added that Lithuania had a global leading role in photonics.

The agreement was discussed extensively with Lithuanian companies, which believe it could lead to several large-scale projects. Over the next six months, Lithuania and the United States will decide which projects to pursue. Funding is expected to come from both the public and private sectors.