SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon, everyone. It’s a great pleasure to be here with my friend Espen – friend, colleague – and also for me, for the United States, our partnership with Norway on so many things, especially in moments of challenge, is deeply appreciated, deeply meaningful.
As NATO founding members, our countries have an extraordinary history, a longstanding history, of working to address global challenges – not just the bilateral relationship, but between Norway and the United States, one that focuses on regional issues but also on global issues.
In April, we agreed to tackle one of the greatest threats to our national and economic security by working to secure our critical mineral and clean energy supply chains. And this is something that’s animated both of our countries for some time, and I think the work that we’ve done together reflects the intense importance that we attach to this.
Today’s signing of this Memorandum of Cooperation demonstrates a shared commitment to economic security in both a timely and tangible way. Developing secure, transparent critical mineral supply chains is essential if we’re going to achieve our global clean energy goals, but it’s also an essential aspect of our national security.
We have invested much toward this effort already. We’re already co-leaders of the Green Shipping Challenge. A substantial portion of Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, is invested in U.S. renewable energy infrastructure. And Norway, of course, is also leading the way in decarbonizing even the most carbon-intensive industries, setting a remarkable example for so many around the world.
We also work together to accelerate investment in global supply chains alongside our 13 other partners in the Mineral Security Partnership, which, through the leadership of Under Secretary Fernandez, now consists of 32 projects around the world. Global demand for critical minerals, we know, is only going to increase. It’s going to expand dramatically as we build and deploy technologies that will drive the 21st century clean energy economy. No country, we know, can meet this demand alone. No country should control the world’s supply of these materials.
Alongside Espen, I’m very pleased to sign this Memorandum of Cooperation to further unlock the full potential of what our two countries can accomplish together and, as well, working with many others. This is a partnership that really is foundational to the future – the future of the 21st century economy, the future of clean energy, the future of national security.
So with that, Espen, the floor is yours.
MINISTER EIDE: Thank you, Secretary Blinken. Thank you, Tony, my good friend. I’m really thrilled to be here today and that we now can sign this Memorandum of Cooperation on critical minerals. Let me first say that I want to express my solidarity and give my condolences to the people that are affected by Hurricane Helene, which has been very devastating to many parts of this country and yet another example why we need to accelerate cooperation on climate change. And to work on decarbonization, climate change has been a very good experience over the – these years of the Biden administration. I very much appreciate the strong leadership that you have taken. And I’ve also had the opportunity to work very closely with you on those issues.
And out of that comes, of course, an interest in what do we need more of when we do less of the old. And as very correctly said, Tony, in the 21st century we will need critical minerals as raw materials for almost everything new, both how we produce clean energy but also how we use clean energy. And on top of that comes a significant change in geopolitical affairs, which is problematic but we – which we need to be honest about and relate to. And it is particularly important that close friends and allies also understand the geoeconomic, the economic consequences of these geopolitical complications, because we don’t want that any country have a total dominance of the sources of, for instance, critical minerals.
Norway is the number one exporter of cobalt to the U.S., the number three exporter of nickel. We are the largest producer of graphite in Europe. Our geology is full of these minerals, so it is for us important to establish these links, which I think brings us together economically but also secures a strategic partnership not only in – as ever in the military and political field, but also in the economic field. It will build security, resilience, reliability in the value chains, and it will make it more easy to work forward faster, both to be more sovereign and secure on – as Western countries together, but also to accelerate the green shift.
So many good things come together in what we are now going to sign, and I am very happy with the cooperation we had with you personally and people here that – and that we are now at the moment where we can sign this Memorandum of Cooperation.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you. Now down to work.
MODERATOR: Blinken and Foreign Minster Eide are signing the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Cooperation on High-Standard, Market-Oriented Trade of Critical Minerals. This MOU formalizes the intent to advance high labor and environmental standards in global critical mineral supply chains while maintaining and identifying appropriate responses to non-market policies and practices in third countries.
(The Memorandum of Cooperation was signed.)
(Applause.)
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER EIDE: All right, thank you.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks, everyone. Thanks for your great work on this. Thank you.
