Spanish
Santo Domingo - Dominican Republic participated in the 1st Ministerial Meeting on Critical Minerals convened by the U.S. Government, held in Washington, where the country projected itself as a player within the global strategy to strengthen and diversify supply chains.
The official delegation was headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Álvarez, and comprised the Minister of Energy and Mines, Joel Santos, and the senior presidential advisor, Manuel Tavares, the Foreign Ministry reported in a note.You may be interested in: What are rare earths? Politikal explains it to you
The meeting, which was attended by the governments of 50 countries, was inaugurated by the Vice President of the United States, James David Vance, and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. According to the note, they emphasized the importance of having reliable international networks to supply the needs of critical minerals, including rare earths. In that same order, the central axes of the meeting were outlined by the special assistant to President Donald Trump and senior director for Global Supply Chains, David Copley, as well as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Jacob Helberg.This meeting takes place one year after Secretary Rubio declared during an official visit to Santo Domingo that, in relation to the mining resources of the Dominican Republic, "those rare earths belong to the Dominican people, but the world will need access to those lands for all the technologies that are key in this century and all the advances ahead".
And he added that "a friendly and allied country in our hemisphere having access to that is something very positive and we are willing to help them develop your wealth". The Dominican presence at this event continues the guidelines of President Luis Abinader regarding the management of the country's potential in relation to rare earths. It is recalled that on August 20, 2024, decree 453-24 was issued, which created the Dominican Mining Company (EMIDOM), a public entity for the exploration of strategic mining resources. Likewise, the president has described the discovery and future exploitation of rare earths on Dominican soil as an unprecedented strategic opportunity. "With a vision for the future and environmental responsibility, we can become a sustainable benchmark for the exploitation of these strategic resources," declared Abinader in his 2025 accountability speech.
