Experts: Stable policy is key to attracting critical mineral investment

Jakarta - Gracelin Baskaran, Director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), has emphasised the need for stable and credible policies to enable Asian countries to attract investment in the critical minerals sector.

According to Baskaran, multilateral development finance institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) play a vital role in helping governments prepare fiscal frameworks, mining licensing regulations, and environmental impact management mechanisms.

“Whatever challenges emerge, whether in fiscal or social frameworks, how to manage the external environmental impacts of mining activities, how to design conducive licensing policies, how to ensure fiscal policy has integrated windfall clauses—these issues send powerful signals to the private sector to invest,” she stated during a virtual discussion in Jakarta on Monday.

She added that long-term and consistent policies would strengthen a country’s negotiating position with investors.

Baskaran stressed that countries must adopt policies that guarantee stability and durability, so as not to fall into a “race to the bottom” when competing to attract investment.

In the same forum, Edimon Ginting, Senior Adviser and Officer-in-Charge of the Regional Cooperation and Integration and Trade Division at the ADB, emphasised that the current clean energy transition increasingly depends on a complex and fragile foundation.

“This foundation is shaped not only by geology but also by foreign policy, supply chain dynamics, financing, skilled labour constraints, and strategic decisions by a handful of countries,” he said.

Ginting highlighted that critical mineral production is dominated by a small number of countries, with processing even more concentrated.

“A single policy change in one country can have global impacts. Asia-Pacific, as the fastest-growing economy, is also home to several critical minerals. This presents both enormous opportunities and deep risks,” he said.

To build a resilient, diversified, and responsible critical minerals value chain, Ginting emphasised the need for a strategy that combines geology and good governance, strengthens regional cooperation, attracts quality investment, prepares skilled workers, and places sustainability at the centre of policy.