India to sign MoU with Argentina for strategic minerals partnership

The Indian government has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Mines of India and the Secretariat of Mining Policy of Argentina's Ministry of Productive Development. The MoU aims to facilitate India’s energy security goals and involves setting up joint ventures for strategic minerals and future investments. It will establish an institutional mechanism for cooperation in the field of mineral resources. This comes as a significant development as Chinese state-owned firms have secured lithium mine concessions in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, which forms what is called the lithium triangle. Objectives of the MoU are to strengthen the activities involved, such as cooperation for encouraging mineral exploration and development, including extraction, mining, and beneficiation of lithium, the possibility of forming joint ventures (JV) in the field of base metals, critical and strategic minerals for mutual benefit, and the possibility of forming joint ventures in the field of base metals, critical and strategic minerals for mutual benefit; exchange of technical and scientific information, as well as the exchange of ideas and knowledge, training and capacity building, and promotion of investment and development in mining activities would all contribute to the goal of innovation. Image SourceAlso read: UK, India announce Rs 10,000 crore trade partnership Also read: Ahead of G7 Summit, India, EU to partner on global infra projects