Surging global demand for critical minerals should be “a once-in-a-lifetime chance” for resource-rich countries in Africa and elsewhere to harness wealth and improve life for millions — but it has too easily triggered violence and poverty, the head of the World Trade Organization said Wednesday.
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned the U.N. Security Council that “critical minerals are increasingly viewed as strategic assets, not just commodities, and a major source of interstate competition.”
