Washington DC [US], February 4 (ANI): US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday highlighted the irrefutable importance of critical minerals during his remarks at the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial being hosted by the United States.

The US VP recalled the operation in Venezuela and his conversation with US President Trump on the importance of access to oil and gas for the global economy.

'As much as we talk about the modern and digital economy, President (Trump) said something very important that should inform how we think about the future of growth- as much as data centres, technology and all the in credible things we are working on matter, fundamentally you still have an economy that runs on real things. There is no realer thing than oil- and I would add to that-- there is no realer thing than critical minerals', Vance said.

In his remarks, the US VP noted how this initiative is where this alliance can help one another.

'We are all in the same team and growing in the same direction. We have close to 2/3rds of the world's GDP represented. We have the capacity to make ourselves more independent and more self-reliant,' Vance said.

He gave a call for making prices more predictable to support supply chains and underlined the importance of confronting problems together.

The United States is hosting the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington DC, bringing together delegations from over 50 countries to advance collaboration on securing and diversifying global critical mineral supply chains, according to a prior notice issued by the Office of the Spokesperson of the US State Department.

Prior to the Ministerial, on Monday, US President Donald Trump announced Project Vault, a supply chain security initiative, which will create the US Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve--an independently governed public-private partnership designed to store essential raw materials at facilities across the country.

Rubio is chairing the ministerial, and the gathering is being described as a historic effort to build collective momentum for cooperation to secure critical minerals essential to technological innovation, economic growth, and national security. (ANI)