Minister Nishimura Signs Memorandum of Cooperation on Critical Minerals with the Department for Business and Trade of the United Kingdom

1. Overview

On Saturday, October 28, 2023, Minister Nishimura held a meeting with H.E. Ms. Kemi Badenoch, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, during the G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting held in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. The two sides signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) on critical minerals. This is the first time for Japan to sign an MOC between a consuming country in the field of critical minerals. Through this MOC, Japan and the U.K. will aim to promote collaboration between their governments and companies and strengthen bilateral ties in the field of critical minerals, including accelerating innovation, developing transparent markets, and shared investments in projects globally.

2. Key points of the MOC

Through this MOC, the two countries will establish a framework for deepening cooperation  and promoting dialogue on critical minerals and will cooperate in the following fields.

• Integrated research and innovation collaboration
  1. Responsible critical raw material acquisition and processing
  2. 2. Building resilient, transparent, and sustainable supply chains
  3. Identifying alternative materials, manufacturing and recycling technologies and business models to achieve a circular economy
• Cooperation to develop well-functioning and transparent markets, through information sharing and improved traceability
• Encouraging partnerships between companies and industrial bodies of both countries in order to diversify supply chains and leveraging private finance to conduct shared investments in projects in the U.K., Japan and globally
• Sharing information on infrastructure projects designed to provide companies with confidence to invest in third countries
• Cooperation to grow midstream capabilities of developing producer countries, including through university exchanges

Related Material

• Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan the Department for Business and Trade of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Critical Minerals(PDF:128KB)

Division in Charge

• Information on the memorandum of cooperation on critical minerals between Japan and the U.K.:
  Mineral and Natural Resources Division, Natural Resources and Fuel Department, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy