India joins US-led strategic alliance Pax Silica

India on Friday joined the US-led strategic alliance Pax Silica aimed at building a resilient supply chain for critical minerals and artificial intelligence. The pact joining the coalition was signed at a ceremony at the AI Impact summit.

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg and US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor were among those present. The decision to join the coalition came amid efforts by both sides to finalise the proposed trade deal and move forward on several other initiatives to solidify bilateral ties after a period of severe strain.

"From the trade deal to Pax Silica to defence cooperation, the potential for our two nations to work together is truly limitless," Gor said in his remarks. The US envoy said India's entry into Pax Silica is not just a symbolic move but a strategic move that will further bolster the overall trajectory of the bilateral ties.

"India is a nation with deep talent, deep enough to rival challengers. India's engineering depth offers critical capabilities for this vital coalition. In addition to talent, India has made important strides towards critical mineral processing capacity, and that is something that we are also fully engaged with," he added. Gor suggested that the US can share trusted AI technologies with India under the Pax Silica framework.

US Under Secretary Helberg hailed India's decision to join the coalition and characterised Pax Silica as an initiative against coercion and blackmail in supply chains, seen as an apparent reference to China.

"We watch as our friends and allies face daily threats of economic coercion and blackmail. They are forced to choose between their sovereignty and their prosperity. We find ourselves grappling with a global supply chain that is massively over-concentrated," he said.

"So today, as we sign the Pax Silica declaration, we say no to weaponised dependency, and we say no to blackmail, and together, we say that economic security is national security, but we must be precise about what that word means," he said.

The initiative was launched in December to build a secure, resilient, and innovation-driven supply chain for critical minerals and artificial intelligence. The Pax Silica Summit was held in Washington on December 12 where partner nations signed the Pax Silica declaration.

The declaration lays out a shared vision of deep economic and technology cooperation across supply chains -- from raw materials through semiconductors and AI infrastructure -- and commitment to mutual prosperity and security. The member nations of the Pax Silica include Australia, Greece, Israel, Japan, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

US Ambassador Gor last month announced an invitation to New Delhi to join the strategic alliance. One key pillar of Pax Silica is to establish a durable economic order to drive AI-powered prosperity across partner nations.

"We recognise that a reliable supply chain is indispensable to our mutual economic security," according to the Pax Silica declaration. "We also recognize that artificial intelligence (AI) represents a transformative force for our long-term prosperity and that trustworthy systems are essential to safeguarding our mutual security and prosperity," it said.

"We believe that economic value and growth will flow through and across all levels of the global AI supply chain, driving historic opportunity and demand for energy, critical minerals, manufacturing, technological hardware, infrastructure, and new markets not yet invented," it said.