India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has warned BRICS leaders of the risks of turning technology and critical minerals into instruments of geopolitical pressure, calling for greater cooperation within the bloc to prevent disputes from undermining its cohesion, Lusa reported on Sunday, 13 July.
“The use of technology and critical minerals as weapons can become an obstacle to our shared progress,” Modi said during the plenary session that closed the main phase of the BRICS summit in New Delhi, India’s capital.
The warning comes against a backdrop of intensifying global competition for access to advanced technologies and raw materials essential to sectors including artificial intelligence (AI), clean energy, and manufacturing.
On Saturday, BRICS leaders unanimously adopted the New Delhi Declaration, in which they advocated for supply chains that are “reliable, diversified, resilient, equitable, and sustainable”, capable of generating greater value across member economies.
Modi also urged bloc members to take a more active role in shaping the rules governing technological development and the expansion of artificial intelligence, presenting ten proposals for a global governance reform roadmap.
Modi’s intervention, delivered in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, comes at a moment of acute global dependence on China for the processing of strategic minerals. China accounts for approximately 90% of global rare earth processing — raw materials that are fundamental to a wide range of advanced technologies.
Chinese export controls on rare earths and other critical minerals have heightened concerns among countries seeking to reduce their reliance on supply chains dominated by Beijing.
India has been working to diversify its supply sources and strengthen partnerships both within and outside the BRICS framework. In February, New Delhi signed a cooperation agreement with Brazil on critical minerals and rare earths, a strategy also linked to the expansion of its manufacturing industry and clean energy sector.
“We may have our roots in different realities, but together we grow through cooperation and prosper for humanity,” Modi concluded.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=543299
