|
WTO
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned the U.N. Security
Council that “critical minerals are increasingly viewed as
strategic assets, not just commodities, and a major source of
interstate competition.”
Major economies are racing to get supplies of the minerals
needed for technology from smartphones to fighter jets to use as
leverage, she said. That means a real risk that conflicts will
rise and developing economies will find themselves locked into
the lowest level of production, while “the highest value jobs,
technologies and profits go elsewhere,” she said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said competition for
lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earths has seen armed groups
reap the benefits of illegal mining and mineral smuggling in
eastern Congo — “and civilians have paid the price of ongoing
conflict.”
In Sudan, he told the council, the bitter fight between
government and paramilitary forces for political and territorial
dominance has been fueled by the exploitation of natural
resources, especially gold and gum arabic used in printing,
paints, glues, cosmetics and other industries, "leading to
atrocities and displacing millions.”
“The minerals beneath Africa or any developing region’s soil
should never help to finance the conflicts above it,”
Okonjo-Iweala said.
She said a real opportunity exists to create “a more
diversified, inclusive, and win-win global economy” where
mineral wealth is not just extracted and shaped abroad but is a
catalyst for economic transformation.
She proposed three priorities:
1. Resource-rich developing countries should demand more local
processing, refining and “value addition.”
2. The international rule of law should be strengthened.
3. Most important, resource-rich countries should work together
and use the leverage they have to reverse the export of raw
materials and import of finished goods as well as promote
investment.
“The world cannot achieve energy security, the green transition
or digital transformation without them," Okonjo-Iweala said.
“Africa alone has roughly 30% of the world’s critical minerals,
and less than half of its mineral reserves have been explored.”
Congo accounts for over 70% of global cobalt production, South
Africa holds the world’s largest reserves of platinum and
manganese, and Zambia and Congo are major copper producers, she
said. Between 10 and 12 African countries have commercially
exploitable reserves of lithium, and 15 to 20 have commercially
exploitable deposits of rare earths.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
|
|
