Africa-Press – Kenya. The President of Kenya announced on the sidelines of the G7 summit that the country is close to finalizing an agreement on critical minerals with the United States, under which it will process its resources locally, calling for a recalibration of relations between Africa and the West on a broader scale.
In recent years, many African countries have sought to process more of the minerals they produce locally, representing a shift towards retaining greater value within the continent.
William Ruto, representing one of the partner countries attending the summit by Lake Geneva, stated that the agreement, which includes rare earth elements and other strategic minerals, is already in preparation and could be finalized soon.
He said, “We have agreed to process minerals in Kenya,” following discussions he had earlier with G7 leaders, including the American President Donald Trump.
He added, “We have agreed with them on what achieves mutual benefit between Kenya and the United States, and President Trump and the American administration are satisfied with that.” This agreement reflects a broader trend among African nations to move away from decades-old models of exporting raw materials, amid increasing competition between Western countries and China for access to resources necessary for the energy transition and advanced technologies.
Ruto stated, “This is the same approach that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is taking to ensure that any agreements or deals made are in the country’s interest.” He added, “These natural resources can no longer be exported and processed elsewhere. They must be processed within the country and on the continent. We need to create added value from them.”
In addition to rare earth elements, Kenya possesses large untapped deposits of niobium, lithium, graphite, copper, and nickel. G7 leaders agreed on Wednesday to enhance coordination to reduce their countries’ dependence on China for critical minerals, including plans to unify storage operations and launch a new platform with an expanded role for the International Energy Agency.
Ruto stated that he agrees with Trump that partnerships should be based on investment rather than aid, adding that the continent no longer desires relationships based on dependency or resource depletion.
He said, “We will reject any relationships based on the depletion of our natural resources,” calling for a shift towards job creation, industrial development, and revenue sharing.
Ruto emphasized that Kenya and other African countries will not choose between Washington and Beijing but will seek to establish multiple partnerships that align with their economic priorities. He stated, “Opportunities are available for everyone,” adding that Africa recently entered into trade agreements with China and expressed hope for enhanced cooperation with the United States and Europe.
Ruto mentioned that he asked G7 leaders to support changes in the global financial system, emphasizing that the main barrier to Africa is not a lack of capital but obstacles to accessing it.
He added, “We do not need capital… what we need is a framework to mobilize it,” referring to the trillions of dollars in African pension funds, insurance assets, and reserves.
He called on G7 countries to provide guarantees and risk-sharing mechanisms to help unlock this capital and reduce borrowing costs. He noted that G7 leaders expressed their preliminary support for strengthening African financial institutions and developing these mechanisms, including within the framework of the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance Program (ATIDI), which he stated all G7 countries have committed to participating in. Ruto concluded by saying, “Africa is not a problem to be solved, but an opportunity to be harnessed for global progress.”
