Lithuania’s government on Wednesday approved the country’s participation in US-led initiatives aimed at securing supplies of critical minerals and rare earths and strengthening supply chains for advanced technologies.
One initiative, a US-proposed agreement on critical minerals, seeks to ensure secure and diversified supplies of raw materials, encourage investment in extraction and processing, and reduce strategic dependencies.
Similar agreements have been signed by Poland, Britain, Australia, Japan and Malaysia. The European Union signed a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals with the United States in April.
Lithuania will also join the “Pax Silica” declaration, which seeks to strengthen secure global supply chains for advanced technologies, including critical raw materials, semiconductors, artificial intelligence infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. The initiative implicitly targets reducing reliance on China and countering its dominance in these fields.
The declaration also calls for closer cooperation on investment security, supply chain resilience and strategic technology policy. Sweden, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Britain, Japan and Singapore have joined the initiative, while the European Union signed on in June.
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry said participation in the initiatives would strengthen strategic cooperation with the United States on economic security and advanced technologies while reducing business risks and dependence on a limited number of suppliers.
The initiatives are also expected to create more favourable conditions for Lithuanian companies to integrate into critical technology and semiconductor supply chains, building on the country’s established photonics and laser industries, the ministry said.
The ministry stressed that neither the minerals agreement nor the “Pax Silica” declaration is an international treaty and that neither would create legal obligations for Lithuania under international or national law.
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