EAM Jaishankar discusses bilateral cooperation with Canadian FM at Critical Minerals Ministerial | India News

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a series of bilateral meetings with his key counterparts, including Canadian External Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Peruvian Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela, on the sidelines of the Critical Minerals Ministerial Meeting in Washington.

In a post on X, EAM Jaishankar said it felt “great” to meet his Canadian counterpart and discuss furthering bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

“It’s great to see FM Anita Anand from Canada today. We talked about taking our relations forward,” EAM said in his post.

He also met with Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela of Peru, noting that both sides agreed to deepen cooperation.

“With Peruvian Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela. We agreed to deepen our cooperation,” Jaishankar wrote in a separate post on X.

Their meeting took place during the Critical Minerals Ministerial Meeting in Washington DC on Wednesday; Meanwhile, EAM called for structured international cooperation to “de-risk” critical mineral supply chains, noting that “overconcentration” poses a major global risk.

In another post on

Ahead of the ministerial meeting, Jaishankar shared photos of his meetings with Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Malaysia’s Mohamad Haji Hasan, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh, among others.

The event, hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, brought together delegations from more than 50 countries and is seen as a turning point in European Union global supply chain diplomacy.

The ministry’s primary goal is to reduce global dependence on China, which currently dominates processing and mining, by diversifying supply chains for rare earth elements and critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will visit India in the first week of March, and agreements on uranium, energy, minerals and Artificial Intelligence are likely to be signed during this visit.

Sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the focus will also be on trade during Prime Minister Carney’s visit.