Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also attended the ministerial, representing a country that brings a different kind of value to the coalition.
Not a major mineral producer, Israel is increasingly positioned as a strategic connector (Europe, US, and Asia), technological hub, and enabler across the supply chain — in advanced processing technologies, materials science, recycling, and digital optimization — and the conference offered Sa’ar a platform to advance that case alongside a busy schedule of bilateral meetings.
On the sidelines of the conference, Sa’ar held a meeting with Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Saidov, later writing on X: «Good meeting with Uzbekistan’s @FM_Saidov on the sidelines of the Critical Minerals Ministerial conference in Washington. We discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations. Israel was one of the first countries to recognize Uzbekistan’s independence. We’ll continue strengthening relations!»
The Israel-Uzbekistan exchange was one of several high-level bilateral engagements Sa’ar conducted during the conference. He also met with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo — a sign of the broad diplomatic activity Israel pursued on the conference’s margins.
Sa’ar framed the conference itself in systemic terms, describing it as an effort to build a new international architecture around critical mineral supply chains. «The broad international coalition led by the US,» he said, «is intended to create a new international system that will guarantee its members the supply of critical minerals for the various industries that are essential to their economies and national security.»
He added that the emerging framework is designed to address vulnerabilities across the entire supply chain — from mining and refining through to the production of finished goods — with the aim of reducing the risks and structural weaknesses that have exposed import-dependent economies in recent years.
At a moment when Washington is actively building an allied architecture around strategic minerals, Israel’s participation signals its ambition to anchor itself within that emerging order — deepening its value to partners and reinforcing its role as an indispensable connector in the allied democratic economies now rallying around mineral security.
Erin Levi