An OECD forum in Istanbul framed critical minerals as a strategic bottleneck for the clean-energy, digital, and defense transitions, with speakers arguing that supply-chain concentration, slow permitting, and trade restrictions are the key constraints. The panel’s common prescription was more diversification, faster licensing, stronger partnerships, better traceability, and more domestic value addition in producer countries.
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This transcript is an opening session and ministerial panel from the OECD Critical Minerals Forum 2026 in Istanbul, hosted by Ali Aslan. The event centers on how critical minerals fit into the global economy, especially amid geopolitical tension, trade fragmentation, and accelerating demand from electrification, AI, renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing. The keynote speakers are the Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat, OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, Moroccan Energy Transition Minister Leila Benali, and Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar. All four emphasize that critical minerals are not just a commodity issue but a strategic one tied to industrial competitiveness, resilience, and national security. …
Near term, the actionable setup is policy-driven: watch for announcements on off-take, processing, permitting reforms, and stockpile/de-risking tools. The immediate risk is that enthusiasm for supply-chain resilience gets diluted by continued volatility in trade rules and geopolitics.
Over the next few months, the base case is more coordinated industrial policy around critical minerals, with the market rewarding projects that have financing, traceability, and downstream capability. The key invalidation would be a shift back to subsidy competition or faster-than-expected trade fragmentation.
Structurally, critical minerals are becoming a strategic regime asset class tied to industrial policy, energy security, and AI infrastructure. The durable winner profile is countries and companies that can prove responsible extraction, processing depth, and stable commercial governance.
Critical minerals are central to the success of the clean-energy transition, AI scale-up, and strategic independence.
Cormann says the minerals beneath our feet will determine whether the clean energy transition succeeds, whether AI can scale, and whether economies retain strategic independence.
Supply concentration in critical minerals is creating unacceptable risk for many countries.
Cormann repeatedly states that current concentration exposes countries to risk and vulnerability, especially in processing.
Export restrictions on critical raw materials have risen for 15 consecutive years and more than fivefold since 2009.
Cormann cites OECD inventory data and says the trend is structural, not marginal.
What is your vision, agenda, and tactics for attracting large-scale investment in critical minerals to achieve Saudi Arabia's goal of growing the mining sector's GDP contribution from $17 billion to $75 billion by 2035?
Minister Al-Khorayef says there is no single solution to critical mineral investment challenges, but every effort helps. He emphasizes that cooperation is key — no country can do the whole process alone — and that resources are not short; challenges are concentrated in processing and financing social/environmental aspects. Saudi Arabia has launched a competitive mining investment law perceived as fair to both nation and investor, and has accelerated licensing processes. He notes that even the US is now taking real steps on issues like off-take and price setting, which were previously hard to accept.
How has Saudi Arabia addressed the challenges of mining investment and licensing to become a top global jurisdiction?
Saudi Arabia launched a competitive mining investment law that balances national interests with investor interests, streamlined licensing to target 90 days (versus 3-10 years elsewhere), focused on technology and innovation, and rose in the Fraser Institute ranking from 104th to 10th globally as a top mining jurisdiction.
How is Egypt's strategy maximizing the potential of its critical mineral resources, and how will that domestic value benefit both Egypt and consuming/importing countries?
The Minister outlined six pillars: energy (oil, gas, renewables to fuel mining), infrastructure (leveraging petrochemical/refinery/export assets), mining itself (aiming to grow from 1% to 5-6% of GDP), and four enablers: geology, infrastructure, energy (42% renewables target by 2030 accelerated to 2028), and a conducive regulatory framework. Egypt is updating regulations for both junior and major companies, launching a nationwide geological survey (first since 1984), and leveraging platforms like the Future Minerals Forum for collaboration.
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