India and the United Kingdom launched the Critical Minerals Global Supply Chain Observatory on Thursday during a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. The ministers also advanced education and maritime security ties, including approvals for a UK university campus in Bengaluru.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on her first visit to India as foreign secretary. They reviewed cooperation in trade, technology, supply chains, defence, climate, education and people-to-people ties, and discussed opportunities in clean energy, AI and critical minerals. The two countries formally launched the Critical Minerals Global Supply Chain Observatory, to be operated jointly by India’s Technology Innovation in Exploration & Mining Foundation, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) Dhanbad and the University of Cambridge. Union Minister G Kishan Reddy described it as a major step towards strengthening critical mineral supply chains. Jaishankar and Cooper, along with Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, witnessed the handover of approval to the University of Liverpool for a Bengaluru campus and an MoU between King’s College London and the National Maritime Foundation to establish a Regional Maritime Security Centre for Excellence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also met Cooper and noted that India-UK Vision 2035 will guide the partnership.
