Rare Earths Exploration, India-Central Asia Nations Agree to

India and five other Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have agreed to work together in exploration of rare earths. A joint statement issued by the countries on Friday after a meeting of India-Central Asia Dialogue on stated that the partner nations have agreed to exchange of delegations to explore new areas of cooperation on the critical minerals.

At present, China nearly holds global monopoly over rare earth minerals. Rare earth alloys are required in crucial industries like automobiles, defense, clean energy, electronic, renewable energy, magnets, cell-phones etc.

A few days back, China had put a restriction on exporting rare earth minerals. After the U.S. imposed heavy tariff on China, China immediately put a ban on its rare earth mineral exports. India too depends heavily on rare earth mineral imports for its domestic manufacturing.