Germany’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Chile at the end of January 2023 accompanied by an economic policy delegation for an official visit (Figure 1). “In the global competition of the 21st century, it is not enough to simply transport raw materials away – without consideration for the environment, without reasonable working conditions, without creating value locally,” Scholz explained in Santiago.
The Chilean Ministry of Mines and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) concluded a German-Chilean Partnership for mining, raw materials and the circular economy. This agreement replaces a memorandum of understanding signed ten years ago in these key areas for achieving climate goals and transforming industry. Now the cooperation between the two countries is to be further expanded.
The now traditional German-Chilean Forum on Mining and Mineral Resources, which is organised alternately in one of the two countries and coordinated by the AHK Chile, was established as an annual meeting in the agreement. In addition, special place is given to cooperation on critical minerals and environmental aspects for 21st century mining.
As the first concrete initiative in this context, the Chilean state copper company Codelco and the German company Aurubis signed a cooperation agreement in the field of environmental technology and for the modernisation of copper production in Chile. (AHK Chile/Si.)
