The visit which will bring together representatives from the EU, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cypress, the Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Portugal, Spain and Malta is the largest joint delegation of EU Member State diplomatic representatives to Western Australia in recent years.

EU Ambassador Gabriele Visentin said “Secure and sustainable supply of raw materials is at the core of the European Union’s agenda and Europe will not achieve its ambition alone: it needs to work with reliable partners for sustainable projects.”

“This is where our partnership with Australia is so important. The many Australian mineral projects operating with high ESG standards are strategic for the EU and the reason for our presence here today. We want to strengthen our cooperation and increase our business links, to the benefits of Australians and Europeans alike,” he said.

The visit follows the EU and Australia signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a bilateral partnership to cooperate on sustainable critical and strategic minerals.  It also provides a framework to build secure and sustainable critical and strategic minerals value chains between the EU and Australia. These value chains will support the clean energy and digital transitions and are relevant for other key industrial sectors such as defence and aerospace.

The MoU enhances cooperation between Australia and the EU in the following areas:

• Integration of sustainable raw materials value chains, including networking, joint facilitation of projects (e.g., via joint ventures), creation of new business models and promotion and facilitation of trade and investment linkages, ensuring the well-functioning, sustainability, and resilience of these critical supply chains.
• Cooperation on research and innovation along the raw materials value chains, including on minerals knowledge and the minimisation of environmental and climate footprint.
• Cooperation to promote high environmental, social, and governance standards and practices, as well as improved policy alignment, driven by full respect of worker's conditions and safety, and by the need of a sustainable and secure production of critical minerals.

For More Information:

• Memorandum of Understanding
• Memorandum of understanding between the European Union and Australia on strategic partnership on a sustainable critical and strategic minerals
• Raw materials diplomacy

Media Contact: Victoria Kelly-Clark, 0429024887