Chile and the European Union have reached agreement on a roadmap of measures to increase collaboration on critical minerals.
Chile is the world's largest producer of copper and second-largest producer of lithium, two minerals playing a key role in the global transition to cleaner sources of energy.
The document, which has technical approval, builds on a memorandum of understanding signed in July last year in Brussels.
The areas of cooperation include research, development and innovation; environmental, sustainability and governance criteria; and training and skills development.
Both Chile and the EU have set themselves the target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and are strategic partners in climate action and energy transition.
"To achieve these goals, both copper and lithium play a key role. Indeed, clean energy applications have become the main driver of demand growth for a variety of critical minerals. Therefore, it will be essential to balance environmental responsibility with economic viability in the extraction of critical minerals," the two parties said in a joint statement.
The roadmap agreement followed a visit by a delegation of EU companies, financiers and authorities to Chile to identify opportunities in the development of sustainable value chains for the supply of critical minerals.
The visit included bilateral meetings, meetings with the Chilean government and visits to copper and lithium mines and processing plants in northern and central Chile.
