Agenda

Morning

08:30 – 09:15

Registration and Welcome Coffee

09:15 – 09:40

Opening Keynote Presentation

Frank Hoffmeister, Deputy Head of Cabinet, Commissioner de Gucht, European Commission

09:40 – 11:10

Session 1: Overcoming increasing pressures on the planet’s key resources

Europe is facing tough global competition for the supplies of the raw materials that fuel its manufacturing industries, with availability increasingly under pressure. Is Europe’s Raw Materials Initiative providing an adequate response to this crisis, and does the Commission’s recent communication sufficiently address the challenges that still remain? How dependent are European companies on raw materials from outside the EU and from some of the most unstable regions of the world? Is the world beginning to run out of some of the more industrially important minerals and how level is the playing field for access to minerals? What policy measures can be taken to overcome supply risks and to ensure continued access for European companies to ‘critical’ raw materials?

Moderated by:

Judith Merkies MEP, Member, European Parliament

09:40 – 09:55

Introductory Keynote Presentation

Teresa Presas, Chair, Alliance for a Competitive European Industry

09:45 – 11:00

Panel Discussion

Gwenole Cozigou, Director, Chemicals, Metals, Mechanical, Electrical and Construction Industries; Raw materials, DG ENTR, European Commission
Bogdan Baltazar, Financial Consultant,
Anthony Cox, Head of Economy and Environment Integration Division, OECD
Wulf-Peter Schmidt, Manager, Sustainability, Ford - Vehicle Environmental Engineering

11:10 – 11:30

Coffee Break

11:30 – 13:00

Session 2: Balancing sustainability and access to raw materials

Industry today is faced with the challenge of balancing the need for finding raw materials that are relatively cheap and easy to access with the EU’s desire to ensure that the environment, health and safety aspects of the extraction and processing of materials will be assured. Can the EU continue to source competitively priced raw materials whilst maintaining a leadership role in sustainability issues such as recycling and sustainable mining and processing? How can the EU help to foster a sound investment climate that helps increase sustainable supplies of raw materials? Is technology beginning to create new composite materials as substitutes, or is the runaway growth of some new technologies now aggravating shortages of essential minerals and rare earths? How can the EU encourage increased recycling and research into substituting and improving resource efficiency? What measures can be taken to help ensure sustainable supplies of valuable secondary raw materials for Europe?

Moderated by:

Christian Egenhofer, Senior Research Fellow, CEPS

11:30 – 11:45

Introductory Keynote Presentation

Christian Hagelüken, Head of Business Development & Market Research, Precious Metals Refining Unit, Umicore

11:45 – 13:00

Panel Discussion

Renzo Tomellini, Head of Unit - Added-Value Materials, DG RTD, European Commission
Reinhard Bütikofer MEP, Member, European Parliament
Kevin Bradley, President, The Nickel Institute
Raymond Van Ermen, Executive Director, European Partners for the Environment

Afternoon

13:00 – 14:30

Lunch

14:30 – 16:00

Session 3: Co-operation not conflict: how can we head-off the possibility of global “resource wars”?

How real are the dangers of “resource wars” of either a commercial or military nature and what needs to be done politically to head off these risks? What rules should be applied to those industrial competitors that refuse to respect environmental rules or human rights when buying or extracting raw materials? How best should the WTO deal with these issues and do the present good governance rules and guidelines go far enough to ensure responsible behaviour by the extraction industries? How can Europe’s policymakers continue to foster bilateral co-operation with external countries in line with development policies, whilst also helping industries in the EU to enjoy continued access to raw materials?

Moderated by:

Daniel Caspary MEP, Member, European Parliament

14:30 – 14:45

Introductory Keynote Presentation

Rufus Yerxa, Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organisation

14:45 – 16:00

Panel Discussion

Peter Klein, Head of Unit - Industrial Sectors, DG TRADE, European Commission
Mogens Peter Carl, Senior Advisor, Kreab Gavin Anderson
Ambassador Ali Mchumo, Managing Director, Common Fund for Commodities
John Mair, General Manager, Greenland Minerals
Craig Maclachlan, Minister and Deputy Head of Mission , Australian Mission to the European Union

16:00 – 16:15

Final Questions & End of Conference