Sa’ar to attend critical minerals conference in DC

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will participate in the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Sa’ar will hold a series of meetings with senior U.S. officials and foreign ministers on the sidelines of the conference.

The conference, initiated by the United States and hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will welcome delegations from more than 50 countries “to advance collective efforts to strengthen and diversify critical minerals supply chains,” according to a department statement released on Monday.

“This historic gathering will create momentum for collaboration to secure these critical components vital to technological innovation, economic strength, and national security,” the State Department said.

China overwhelmingly leads the global rare earth industry, accounting for about 70% of worldwide mining output and nearly 90% of processing and separation capacity.

Rubio has strongly criticized China’s “cornering” of the rare-earth mineral market, calling the U.S. dependence on them for critical technologies an “untenable” national security threat.

China is “not interested in making money in this field,” he said in June 2025. “They’re interested in the short term in dominating the market, being the sole source provider for the world of a certain product.”

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, David Copley, special assistant to the president of the United States and senior director for global supply chains, and Jacob Helberg, under secretary of state for economic affairs, are scheduled to deliver opening remarks on Wednesday morning.

Israel attended a similar conference in D.C. in December, which announced Pax Silica, a strategic initiative led by the United States designed to unite global technology leaders to establish a shared, prosperous economic order for the era of artificial intelligence.

The initiative seeks to encompass everything from the production of critical minerals and energy to advanced manufacturing and chips, to AI infrastructure, data centers and logistics.

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