German Chancellor meets Chilean president in Santiago

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a new, expanded commodities partnership with Chile during a tour of South America that Berlin hopes will help secure more access to critical minerals key to the transition to a green economy.

Europe’s largest economy has fallen behind in the race for critical minerals in part due to a distaste for the dirty business of mining as well as faith in the open market, German government officials say.

The new German-Chilean agreement, which replaces a decades-old partnership, aims to intensify cooperation in the sector, for example through an annual bilateral forum and state instruments to promote trade-like investment guarantees.

Given the environmental, labour and social concerns regarding mining – that have sparked anger and thwarted projects in the sector – Germany’s high standards made it an ideal partner, Scholz said.

“We want to help Chile on the way to a sustainable mining sector,” Scholz said in a news conference with his Chilean counterpart in Santiago de Chile on the second leg of his tour.

“There is this expression that everything is just extracted from the earth. But that’s not a good thing, when that’s all that happens,” Scholz said.

A new act that came into force this year for example insists high standards are observed throughout companies’ supply chains. Germany also wanted to ensure mining generated more jobs in the source countries, Scholz said.