TOKYO: China yesterday defended the withdrawal of its senior delegates from the International Monetary Fund meeting in Tokyo as “completely appropriate” although the head of the multilateral organization said they would “lose out.”
The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, said she hoped the world’s second- and third-largest economies could resolve their differences “harmoniously and expeditiously.”
Chinese finance officials pulled out of this week’s IMF and World Bank meetings in Tokyo.
“I think they lose out by not attending the meeting,” Lagarde said of the Chinese officials. “And they will be missing something great.”
World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the global stakes are too high for the territorial row between China and Japan to be allowed to escalate.
She called on their leaders to resolve the dispute.
Indrawati, a former Indonesian finance minister, said the row was not likely to dampen the mood of the Tokyo meetings, but came at a time when the world economy was already reeling from uncertainty over the euro zone crisis.
She said Japan’s and China’s leaders had a responsibility to resolve the dispute so that it did not cause unnecessary economic and social damages.
“The relationship between China and Japan is just too important not only for these two countries,” Indrawati told Reuters. “We all know that China and Japan are the second and third largest economy in the world, so anything that happens between the two countries is not only affecting the two sides, but also affecting the region as well as globally.”
“The stake is just too high,” she said, adding: “We already have a lot of uncertainty coming from the global (economic) weakening so it is in the mutual benefit of the two countries to settle this dispute in an ... acceptable way.”
She said the IMF-World Bank meetings was an opportunity for global finance leaders to explore policies that could limit the impact of the euro zone crisis on emerging and developing economies, that are now clearly slowing. “Policymakers have to think about whether they should respond to the short-term turbulence or should they focus more on the medium-term,” she said.
Indrawati said the crisis could reverse the reduction of poverty in developing countries over the past 10 years. The World Bank estimated in 2009 that the financial crisis had pushed more than 53 million people into poverty.
“We do understand that this can be easily erased when the economy both in developed and emerging countries suffers from a setback,” she added.
Fans of Indrawati in Indonesia last year formed a political party for her in the hope that she may decide to run for president in 2014.
Asked whether she was interested in running for president, Indrawati said: “It is always an honor and for me people asking that kind of question (implies) there is an expectation, or at least recognition, about the role I can play.
“But the work at the bank is so challenging, especially at this time when many different countries are facing a lot of risk coming from both global challenges as well as their own domestic challenges, this is a very demanding time to focus on that issue.”
IMF, World Bank urge end to China-Japan row
IMF, World Bank urge end to China-Japan row
First EU–Saudi roundtable on critical raw materials reflects shared policy commitment
RIYADH: The EU–Saudi Arabia Business and Investment Dialogue on Advancing Critical Raw Materials Value Chains, held in Riyadh as part of the Future Minerals Forum, brought together senior policymakers, industry leaders, and investors to advance strategic cooperation across critical raw materials value chains.
Organized under a Team Europe approach by the EU–GCC Cooperation on Green Transition Project, in coordination with the EU Delegation to Saudi Arabia, the European Chamber of Commerce in the Kingdom and in close cooperation with FMF, the dialogue provided a high-level platform to explore European actions under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act and ResourceEU alongside the Kingdom’s aspirations for minerals, industrial, and investment priorities.
This is in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and broader regional ambitions across the GCC, MENA, and Africa.
ResourceEU is the EU’s new strategic action plan, launched in late 2025, to secure a reliable supply of critical raw materials like lithium, rare earths, and cobalt, reducing dependency on single suppliers, such as China, by boosting domestic extraction, processing, recycling, stockpiling, and strategic partnerships with resource-rich nations.
The first ever EU–Saudi roundtable on critical raw materials was opened by the bloc’s Ambassador to the Kingdom, Christophe Farnaud, together with Saudi Deputy Minister for Mining Development Turki Al-Babtain, turning policy alignment into concrete cooperation.
Farnaud underlined the central role of international cooperation in the implementation of the EU’s critical raw materials policy framework.
“As the European Union advances the implementation of its Critical Raw Materials policy, international cooperation is indispensable to building secure, diversified, and sustainable value chains. Saudi Arabia is a key partner in this effort. This dialogue reflects our shared commitment to translate policy alignment into concrete business and investment cooperation that supports the green and digital transitions,” said the ambassador.
Discussions focused on strengthening resilient, diversified, and responsible CRM supply chains that are essential to the green and digital transitions.
Participants explored concrete opportunities for EU–Saudi cooperation across the full value chain, including exploration, mining, and processing and refining, as well as recycling, downstream manufacturing, and the mobilization of private investment and sustainable finance, underpinned by high environmental, social, and governance standards.
From the Saudi side, the dialogue was framed as a key contribution to the Kingdom’s industrial transformation and long-term economic diversification agenda under Vision 2030, with a strong focus on responsible resource development and global market integration.
“Developing globally competitive mineral hubs and sustainable value chains is a central pillar of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Kingdom’s industrial transformation. Our engagement with the European Union through this dialogue to strengthen upstream and downstream integration, attract high-quality investment, and advance responsible mining and processing. Enhanced cooperation with the EU, capitalizing on the demand dynamics of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, will be key to delivering long-term value for both sides,” said Al-Babtain.
Valere Moutarlier, deputy director-general for European industry decarbonization, and directorate-general for the internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs at European Commission, said the EU Critical Raw Materials Act and ResourceEU provided a clear framework to strengthen Europe’s resilience while deepening its cooperation with international partners.
“Cooperation with Saudi Arabia is essential to advancing secure, sustainable, and diversified critical raw materials value chains. Dialogues such as this play a key role in translating policy ambitions into concrete industrial and investment cooperation,” she added.
