On Friday, 20th of June in Athens 2014, SGT in cooperation with Euromines and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) are organising the European conference “Raw Materials High Level Conference. Maximizing Value: The Importance of the Extractive Industry to Growth in the EU Economy and its Regions ”. The conference is included in the official programme of the Greek Presidency of the EU and is fully endorsed by the Greek Ministry of Environment Energy and Climate Change (YPEKA).
Construction, chemicals, automotive, aerospace, machinery and the equipment sectors, which together provide a total value added of €1,324 billion and employment for some 30 million people, all depend on access to raw materials.
The ultimate aim of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials is to help raise industry’s contribution to EU GDP to around 20% by 2020. It will also play an important role in meeting the objectives of the flagship European Commission initiatives ‘Innovation Union’ and ‘Resource Efficient Europe’. It will do this by ensuring the sustainable supply of raw materials to the European economy whilst increasing benefits for society as a whole.
Securing reliable and undistorted access to raw materials is of continuing concern both within the EU and globally. As a consequence, the Raw Materials Initiative was instigated to manage responses to raw materials issues at an EU level. At the heart of this work is defining what are the critical raw materials that have high economic importance to the EU combined with high risk associated with their supply.
The conference aims to discuss these issues and share the views of the European Commission, Member States, industry CEOs and other stakeholders. The conference will also examine the development of the 2nd Pillar of the Raw Materials Initiative. There remain a large number of valuable raw materials deposits in Europe. Their sustainable exploitation can increase Europe’s supply of mineral resources, help to ease imports from third countries that may apply lower environmental, corporate and social standards, foster the growth of Europe’s Regions as well as provide raw materials that are crucial for the competitiveness of several industries and the development of green technologies.
Europe is rich in natural resources. Our future is one where technological advances lead our industry, where regulation compliments growth and is born from a hard-won consensus for a better future.
See more: www.tsomokos.gr
[by Peter G. Tzeferis]