FM: Lithuania seeks to be reliable partner of US in building secure supply chains

VILNIUS - Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys met with David Copley, Senior Director for Global Supply Chains at the US National Security Council, in Washington to discuss issues related to critical minerals, technology supply chains, and economic security.

During the meeting, Budrys stressed that Lithuania is ready to strengthen cooperation with the United States in the area of critical minerals and intends to join the "Pax Silica" declaration.

"Lithuania seeks to be a reliable partner of the United States in building resilient and secure supply chains. We see great potential for expanding cooperation in the areas of critical minerals, advanced technologies, and semiconductors, which are essential for strengthening both economic security and defense capabilities," a press release issued by the Foreign Ministry on Saturday quoted the minister as saying.

He pointed out that cooperation among like-minded partners must encompass the entire technology value chain - from critical raw materials and energy to semiconductors, advanced technologies, and artificial intelligence.

"Today, competitiveness and security are determined by the ability to ensure the resilience of the entire technology value chain. Therefore, we must cooperate more closely with reliable partners and jointly invest in innovation, science, and industrial development," Budrys stressed.

Last Thursday, Budrys and the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a bilateral framework agreement between Lithuania and the United States on cooperation in critical minerals.

The agreement aims to strengthen cooperation between Lithuania and the United States by ensuring a secure and diversified supply of critical raw materials, promoting investment in their extraction and processing, increasing supply chain resilience, and reducing strategic dependencies.

Lithuania seeks to contribute to these goals by leveraging its expertise in high-tech manufacturing, advanced technologies, the processing of critical materials, and logistics.

Poland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, and other countries have already signed similar agreements with the United States. The European Union also signed a corresponding memorandum with the US in April of this year.