Qatar has invested in a US-backed initiative designed to loosen China’s dominance of minerals critical to clean energy in the first such collaboration between a western and Gulf state.
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to invest $180mn in TechMet, a Dublin-based mining investment vehicle backed by the US International Development Finance Corporation, the country’s development bank.
The investment by the Qatar Investment Authority is a significant moment in the geopolitical tussle between the US and China for control over supplies of rare earths, lithium and cobalt used to power electric cars.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has escalated efforts to wrest dominance from China over critical minerals and made it one of its big strategic objectives in the switch to renewable power.
A plank of those efforts has been attempting to persuade Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to use their financial muscle to invest in US initiatives to extract and process critical minerals for industrial use.
The wealthy Gulf states are hoping to become big players in the critical minerals market, using their neutrality in the geopolitical stand-off between the US and China to their advantage.
Qatar is designated by the US as a major non-Nato ally. It also has good ties with China, which is one of the biggest buyers of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas.
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