Australia and Canada said on Thursday they had signed new agreements on critical minerals as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a landmark address to the Australian parliament, a sign of the developing bond between the "middle powers".
Carney is on a multi-leg trip across the Asia-Pacific region also taking in Japan and India. His stop in Australia included the first address to Australia's parliament by a Canadian leader since 2007.
"In a world of great power rivalry, middle powers have a choice: compete for favour or combine for strength," he told lawmakers.
Introducing Carney in parliament, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his address represented the closeness of the ties between the two nations.
"Australia and Canada are middle powers in a world that is changing. We cannot change it back, but we can back ourselves, back our citizens, and back each other," he said.
Albanese told a press conference that Australia would join Canada's G7 critical minerals production alliance.
"We have agreed to deepen our relationship across several areas, building on our joint declaration of intent on critical minerals that we signed last year," he told a press conference.
The G7 alliance is a Canada-led initiative to diversify and secure global critical minerals production and supply.
Canada and Australia together produce about a third of global lithium and uranium, as well as more than 40% of global iron ore.
Western nations have been attempting to diversify their supply chains away from China, which still controls the majority of production and processing of critical minerals, essential for semiconductors and defence applications.
Canada believes that the best way to address the issue of concentrated supply of critical minerals is through a production alliance or a buyers' club rather than just a price floor, Energy and Mining Minister Tim Hodgson told Reuters on Tuesday.
Australia has already allocated A$1.2 billion ($850 million) to build a critical minerals stockpile, beginning with antimony, gallium and rare earths.
That will now be more closely aligned with Canada's defence stockpiling regime that has a similar aim, Albanese said.
"There's a lot Canada and Australia can do together on critical minerals as producer nations," Australian Resources Minister Madeleine King told Reuters ahead of Carney's visit.
Australia and Canada will also deepen cooperation in areas including defence and maritime security, trade and artificial intelligence, the two leaders said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran see...
A criminal court in Damascus has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary de...
Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to increase its workforce at Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant to 100 specialists by the autumn,...
One hundred years after the First World War and more than eighty years after the devastation of the Second World War gave rise to the United Nations, humanity once again finds itself living in an age of permanent crisis.
Flights arriving at Catania airport in eastern Sicily were suspended after volcanic ash from a new eruption of Mount Etna drifted into the airspace around the airport, disrupting operations at one of Italy’s busiest aviation hubs.
For months, efforts to secure the Red Sea have focused on what is happening in the water. Naval deployments have increased, governments have expanded maritime cooperation and shipping companies have adapted to persistent security threats.
Greenland has issued a “strong warning” to a U.S. oil company linked to President Donald Trump after drilling equipment was brought ashore without the required government approvals, according to British media.
A deal on a new route for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is "very close," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said, while warning that the reopening of the waterway depends on the U.S. meeting other conditions, including paying compensation to Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran seeks compensation and sanctions relief before reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
A criminal court in Damascus has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.
Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to increase its workforce at Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant to 100 specialists by the autumn, depending on the security situation and progress toward a halt in hostilities between Washington and Tehran.
Russia’s Supreme Court has barred the liberal Yabloko party from contesting September’s parliamentary election, removing the only officially registered party openly opposed to Moscow’s war in Ukraine from the ballot.
U.S. President Donald Trump has warned FIFA against replacing its president, Gianni Infantino, as the football governing body faces mounting pressure over a failed proposal to sell an interest in the World Cup to private equity investors.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment