EU, Australia sign MoU to cooperate on critical minerals

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union and Australia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday to cooperate on critical and strategic minerals as the EU tries to diversify its suppliers away from China and Russia and transform its economy to reduce CO2 emissions.

The agreement covers exploration, extraction, processing, refining, recycling, and processing of extractive waste.

"Australia is ... a global leader when it comes to critical raw materials," EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said in a statement.

"This partnership marks a major step forward in our efforts to secure a more sustainable supply of critical raw materials for the EU... This will also help us to deliver the green and digital transition," he said.

The EU signed similar agreements with Canada and Ukraine in 2021, Kazakhstan and Namibia in 2022, with Argentina, Chile, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Greenland in 2023 and with Rwanda, Norway and Uzbekistan earlier this year.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Jason Neely)