Securing Critical Raw Materials: Can the Middle Corridor Become Europe's Strategic Supply Line?

Europe's ambition to lead the energy transition and digital transformation rests on a fragile foundation: extreme dependency on a handful of countries — above all China — for the critical raw materials that power batteries, semiconductors, wind turbines, and defence systems. But the uncomfortable truth is that Europe cannot mine its way to self-sufficiency. It must build diversified, resilient supply partnerships — fast. The Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor, stretching from Central Asia through the Caucasus to Turkey and onward to European markets, offers one of the most promising yet underexplored answers. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and their neighbours sit on vast deposits of rare earths, lithium, chromium, cobalt, copper, tungsten, and uranium — many already being extracted but almost entirely shipped eastward for Chinese processing. This session asks the hard question: what would it actually take to redirect, refine, and secure these materials for European and allied supply chains, and to do so at speed and scale?