Policy paper

UK-Japan Critical Minerals Memorandum of Cooperation

A partnership between the UK and Japan to support collaboration on resilient, transparent, and sustainable critical mineral supply chains.

• From: Department for Business and Trade
• Published: 28 October 2023

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Documents

Memorandum of Cooperation between the Department for Business and Trade of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan on Critical Minerals

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Details

The UK and Japan have agreed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) establishing a new partnership on critical minerals. This MoC delivers on a specific commitment made by leaders in the Hiroshima Accord. It will provide a framework for deepening critical minerals cooperation between the 2 countries and promoting dialogue on a range of areas including:

• research and innovation
• critical minerals data and traceability
• industry partnerships and public-private cooperation
• infrastructure projects in third countries
• cooperation to support developing producer countries
• cooperation on technical standards and environmental, social and governance standards

This MoC was signed by Kemi Badenoch, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, and Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, at the G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Osaka on 28 October 2023.

Officials from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and Department of Business and Trade (DBT) will work closely with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and other partners across government, industry and academia, to lead this work and identify an initial set of priorities for collaboration.

Published 28 October 2023