The stakes are clear: Europe imports nearly 100% of its rare earth elements, over 70% of its lithium, with China dominating global processing capacity across most critical materials categories. By 2030, the CRMA mandates that no single non-EU country supplies more than 65% of any strategic raw materials consumed in the EU, demanding urgent action. This session asks what that action actually looks like on the ground. What are the concrete steps, strategic partnerships, and hard lessons from implementation so far? 

The discussion examines how resource partnerships must be anchored in Europe’s industrial needs — aligning upstream extraction and processing with downstream manufacturing demand, and what it takes for research collaboration in critical areas like rare earth separation to translate into active projects. From Albania to Uzbekistan, European and partner-country voices share their successes and challenges, and how the CRM Facility can drive results by identifying the right partners, catalysing innovation, and accelerating project development.