United States welcomes Qatar’s signing of Pax Silica economic-security declaration

The Pax Silica Declaration is a joint political statement, not a treaty, in which participating governments agree on how to cooperate on the technologies that power artificial intelligence (AI)—from energy and critical minerals, through chipmaking and data centers, to software and AI models. By signing it, countries:

• Affirm that reliable, resilient supply chains and trustworthy AI systems are essential to their economic and national security.
• Pledge to deepen economic partnership using shared “investment security” practices, infrastructure projects, and incentives.
• Commit to work together across the whole “technology stack” (e.g., connectivity and network infrastructure, compute and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, logistics, mineral refining and processing, energy, AI models and applications).
• Promise to mobilize private industry to strengthen and diversify supply chains, reduce excessive dependencies on any single high‑risk country or supplier, and forge new links with “reliable partners.”
• Intend to coordinate policies to counter unfair trade practices (like dumping and overcapacity), protect sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure from undue foreign control, and build “trusted” digital networks (such as secure telecoms, fiber‑optic cables, and data centers).

These are political commitments and a framework for cooperation rather than detailed, legally binding obligations.

Jacob Helberg is a U.S. government official and technology policy expert who serves as the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (sometimes described as Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment) in the Trump administration, a position he assumed in October 2025. Before that, he worked as a technology advisor, author, and member of the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission.

The Under Secretary for Economic Affairs is the State Department’s top economic official. The role oversees the Department’s “Economic Affairs” family of bureaus, which handle:

• International economic and commercial diplomacy
• Energy and critical-minerals issues
• Technology, digital policy, and supply‑chain security (including initiatives like Pax Silica)
• Environment and scientific cooperation, and broader economic statecraft

In practice, that means leading U.S. diplomacy on trade, investment, technology and AI supply chains, energy and climate‑related economic issues, and coordinating with allies on economic‑security policies.

Ahmed bin Mohammed Al‑Sayed (often styled Ahmad bin Mohammed Al‑Sayed) is a senior Qatari official who was appointed Minister of State for Foreign Trade Affairs at Qatar’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry in November 2024 by an Amiri order. He previously served as CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority and Qatar Holding, and as chairman or board member of major Qatari and international institutions (including the Qatar Free Zones Authority and Qatar National Bank).

As Minister of State for Foreign Trade Affairs, his role is to:

• Lead Qatar’s external trade and investment policy within the Ministry of Commerce and Industry
• Attract foreign investment and deepen trade relations with partner countries
• Represent Qatar in international economic and trade forums and negotiate trade‑related agreements—such as Qatar’s accession to Pax Silica

The position focuses on expanding and managing Qatar’s global trade and investment ties, rather than on domestic regulation alone.

In practical terms for Pax Silica countries, saying “economic security is national security” means that protecting the economy—especially key technologies and supply chains—is treated as a core national‑security task, not just an economic one. Concretely, that involves:

• Treating things like semiconductors, data centers, undersea cables, critical minerals and energy supplies as strategic assets, much like traditional military infrastructure.
• Working with allies to ensure these supply chains are reliable and can withstand shocks (pandemics, wars, sanctions, or economic coercion from powerful states).
• Coordinating rules on investment screening, export controls, and infrastructure security to keep sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure out of adversaries’ control.
• Using trade, investment and industrial policy tools jointly with partners to reduce over‑reliance on any single country for critical inputs and to counter unfair or coercive economic practices.

Within Pax Silica, the U.S. explicitly frames this as reorganizing supply chains around “trusted” partners so that their economic strength directly supports their collective security.

A “coercive dependency” means relying so heavily on one foreign country or supplier for something essential that they can threaten to cut you off—or impose bad terms—to pressure you politically or economically. A “single point of failure” is a chokepoint where disruption at one step (one factory, one company, one shipping route) can break the entire chain.

Simple examples:

• If nearly all of a country’s advanced computer chips come from factories in one foreign state, that state could threaten to stop exports to force political concessions. That’s a coercive dependency and also a single point of failure in the chip supply chain.
• If most of the processing of a critical mineral (like rare earths or battery metals) is concentrated in one country, disruptions there—whether political decisions, sanctions, or natural disasters—can halt global production of electronics or electric cars.

Pax Silica explicitly aims to lower these risks by spreading production and processing across multiple “trusted” partners and building backup capacity in key stages like minerals, semiconductors, logistics and energy.

Public documents indicate that the U.S. Department of State—specifically the Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs—serves as the main coordinator for Pax Silica. The State Department describes Pax Silica as its “flagship effort on AI and supply chain security,” and Under Secretary Jacob Helberg has directed U.S. diplomats in Washington and at embassies abroad to “operationalize” the summit’s discussions by identifying infrastructure projects and coordinating economic‑security practices.

So while multiple bureaus and U.S. agencies will be involved, the initiative is centrally led and coordinated out of the State Department’s Economic Affairs leadership.

The “flagship projects across global technology stacks” are large, cross‑border infrastructure and industrial projects that touch multiple layers of the AI and digital‑technology supply chain. Official summaries don’t yet list a full catalog, but they describe the types of projects and give early examples:

• Connectivity and digital infrastructure: building or upgrading data centers, fiber‑optic cables, and secure telecom networks across partner countries.
• Compute and semiconductors: joint investments in advanced chip manufacturing, packaging, or specialized AI‑compute facilities.
• Advanced manufacturing and logistics: modernizing ports, freight corridors, and industrial parks using digital tools to speed trade and reduce chokepoints.
• Minerals refining and processing, and energy: new or expanded facilities to mine, refine and process key minerals, and to supply reliable energy to AI‑era industries.

Reporting linked to Pax Silica also mentions specific early concepts, such as the “Fort Foundry One” industrial park in Israel and potential modernization projects along the India–Middle East–Europe Corridor, as examples of the kind of large, networked projects the coalition wants to promote.

Other countries and companies would typically participate by:

• Hosting facilities (like chip plants, data centers, mineral‑processing plants, or logistics hubs)
• Co‑investing in projects alongside partner governments and private firms
• Supplying technology, equipment, or engineering services for these shared infrastructure builds.