Critical Minerals, Critical Partnerships: Business Calls for OECD Action to Address Supply Risks

On 28–29 April, Business at OECD actively contributed to the 2026 OECD Critical Minerals Conference in Istanbul in Türkiye. The event brought together Ministers and senior officials from the OECD and non-OECD countries, alongside private sector representatives and civil society to discuss strategic priorities for collective action. On the sidelines, Business at OECD co-hosted a private sector side event with the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), marking the launch of its priorities paper Critical Minerals, Critical Partnerships. The paper calls for an OECD Critical Minerals Action Plan focused on five areas: ensuring market access and diversification options; enabling investment and project development; streamlining responsible business frameworks; strengthening international financing; and scaling recycling and the circular economy. Our delegation, led by USCIB's Kristen Kaufman, reiterated these messages throughout the conference, calling on the OECD for a pragmatic approach grounded in investment certainty, coordinated financing and streamlined frameworks.

Left to right: our Global Director Dominik Kümmerle, our Executive Director Hanni Rosenbaum, ICMM's Rohitesh Dhawan, Demir Export A.Ş.' Ramazan Yön, Microsoft's Carol Anderson, Bureau of International Recycling (BIR)'s Alev Somer, USCIB's Kristen Kaufman, the Mining Association of Canada's Ben Chalmers, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the OECD's Jochem Wiers, and J.P. Morgan's Kenan Arkan.

Mike Kopp, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State of the Department of Energy of the United States, delivered a government response at our event.

The OECD's Director for Global Relations and Sherpa to the G7 and G20, Andreas Schaal, provided closing remarks.