(Reuters) – The United States, Japan, India and Australia will work to improve the security of supply chains for critical technologies such as clean energy and to ease a global semiconductor shortage, said Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The Quad nations, in their first in-person summit https://www.reuters.com/world/china/quad-leaders-meet-white-house-amid-shared-china-concerns-2021-09-24 on Friday in Washington, agreed on a partnership to secure critical infrastructure, the White House said.

Morrison stated that the partnership would include the connection of Australia’s natural resources with the manufacturing and processing facilities, as well with the end users in Japan and India. This was according to transcripts released by Morrison on Saturday.

Australia is the world’s biggest supplier of rare earths outside of China, and is a major supplier of minerals used in electric vehicle batteries, such as nickel, and cobalt.

Although they did not refer publicly to China in their remarks, the leaders insisted that rules-based behaviour be observed in a place where China has tried to exert its influence. Beijing criticized the group, calling it “doomed for failure”.

Morrison explained that other Quad leaders were grateful for Australia’s supply of critical materials, “because it is a necessity supply for many industries and processes that they own.”

Australia is a major producer of critical minerals. However, we feel we could play an even bigger part in supporting future technologies by being a more critical supplier.

Morrison announced that Australia will host the next clean-energy supply-chain summit. The goal is to create a plan for developing such supply chains throughout the Indo-Pacific.

Morrison explained that there were also discussions about ways to improve the supply of semiconductors. Global carmakers, and others, have been cutting production because of shortages in Asia, which has made matters worse for them.

“This ecosystem is what we are trying to build and we hope to achieve that… in this region,” he stated.