US EXIM to invest $100 billion in critical mineral projects in Egypt, Pakistan and Europe

A generic photo of the Washinton, DC, building that houses the Export-Import Bank, the Veterans Affairs Office of Construction, Board of Veterans Appeals, and the Administrative Office of the US Courts (Vermont and I Sts) 29 March 2002. (AFP/File)
Short Url
Updated 23 November 2025
Follow

US EXIM to invest $100 billion in critical mineral projects in Egypt, Pakistan and Europe

  • The investment aligns with US President Donald Trump’s energy-dominance agenda
  • Trump campaigned to increase US energy output, has sought to roll back regulations

The US Export-Import Bank (EXIM) will invest $100 billion to secure US and allied supply chains for critical minerals, nuclear energy and liquefied natural gas, the organization’s chair John Jovanovic told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday.

The first tranche of deals will include projects in Egypt, Pakistan and Europe, Jovanovic told the newspaper, adding that the West was over-reliant on supplies of these critical materials that “are no longer fair.”

“We can’t do anything else that we’re trying to do without these underlying critical raw material supply chains being secure, stable and functioning,” he was quoted saying.

Jovanovic told the FT that the bank’s early deals would include a credit insurance guarantee for $4 billion of natural gas being delivered to Egypt by New York-based commodities group Hartree Partners, and a $1.25 billion loan for the Reko Diq mine being developed by Barrick Mining in Pakistan.

The bank has $100 billion left to deploy of the $135 billion authorized by Congress, he said.

EXIM did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

The investment aligns with US President Donald Trump’s energy-dominance agenda.

Trump had campaigned on a promise to increase US energy output and has sought to roll back energy and environmental regulations since taking office in January.


Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military

Updated 06 December 2025
Follow

Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military

  • Pakistan’s military spokesperson on Friday described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat”
  • PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan says words used by military spokesperson for Khan were “not appropriate”

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday responded to allegations by Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry from a day earlier, saying that he was not a “national security threat.”

Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), spoke to journalists on Friday, in which he referred to Khan as a “mentally ill” person several times during the press interaction. Chaudhry described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat.”

The military spokesperson was responding to Khan’s social media post this week in which he accused Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.” 

“The people of Pakistan stand with Imran Khan, they stand with PTI,” the party’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, told reporters during a news conference. 

“Imran Khan is not a national security threat. Imran Khan has kept the people of this country united.”

Raja said there were several narratives in the country, including those that created tensions along ethnic and sectarian lines, but Khan had rejected all of them and stood with one that the people of Pakistan supported. 

PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by Raja, criticized the military spokesperson as well, saying his press talk on Thursday had “severely disappointed” him. 

“The words that were used [by the military spokesperson] were not appropriate,” Gohar said. “Those words were wrong.”

NATURAL OUTCOME’

Speaking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif defended the military spokesperson’s remarks against Khan.

“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said. 

“The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”

Khan, who was ousted after a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, blames the country’s powerful military for removing him from power by colluding with his political opponents. Both deny the allegations. 

The former prime minister, who has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, also alleges his party was denied victory by the army and his political rivals in the 2024 general election through rigging. 

The army and the government both deny his allegations.