Washington, June 25 (AHN) The United States on Thursday launched a series of initiatives to strengthen cooperation with trusted partners on artificial intelligence, critical minerals and advanced manufacturing, as senior State Department officials unveiled the Pax Silica partnership aimed at building resilient technology supply chains and accelerating innovation.

Opening the second Pax Silica Summit in Washington, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jacob Helberg said the initiative would help countries work together on the technologies expected to shape the global economy.

"As I've said a number of times before, if the 20th century was powered by oil and steel, the 21st century will be powered by computer energy and the infrastructure that makes artificial intelligence possible," Helberg said.

He described Pax Silica as "an action platform, not another international bureaucracy" and "a practical toolkit that enables trusted partners to together pilot new ideas and scale what works."

A key outcome of the summit was the launch of the Declaration on AI Opportunity, which Helberg said reflects "a shared commitment to pro-growth, AI policies, trusted technology ecosystems, resilience, supply chains, and investment in the infrastructure needed to power the AI economy."

"The declaration reflects a simple but important idea. Governments should not approach AI primarily through the lens of restriction. We should approach it through the lens of opportunity," he said.

Helberg also announced Pax Pass, a new platform that will initially operate through Panama to facilitate the movement of high-value AI supply chain products. The system will combine cargo verification, AI-powered risk assessment and pre-approved expedited processing for trusted shipments to reduce trade barriers and strengthen supply chain resilience.

To support the initiative, the United States is committing $50 million in foreign assistance funding for the development and deployment of the programme.

The summit also launched Foundry School, a workforce development initiative being established with Stanford University. Helberg said he had signed a memorandum of understanding with Stanford President Jonathan Levin to develop seminars and what he described as the first curriculum of its kind for institutions across Pax Silica economies.

"Advanced manufacturing is not yet well established as a standalone field of study, yet few things matter more to national power and economic strength," Helberg said.

He also highlighted the recently announced economic security zone in the Philippines, describing it as the first in what the United States hopes will become a broader network of trusted manufacturing and innovation hubs across Pax Silica partner countries.

Speaking later, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announced that Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Chile, Costa Rica, Greece, Kazakhstan, Panama and the European Union had become new signatories to the Pax Silica Declaration. He said it marked the first time economies from the Western Hemisphere had joined the initiative.

"No single nation holds every link in these technologies' supply chains, and that is our strength, not our weakness," Landau said. "Our combined capabilities are something no command economy can match alone."

Landau added that more than 20 countries now support the AI Opportunity initiative, saying it would "send a clear message to the world" that free-market nations are ready to advance AI innovation together.

The summit comes as governments around the world compete to secure AI computing capacity, critical minerals and advanced manufacturing capabilities. The United States has increasingly promoted technology partnerships with allies to strengthen resilient supply chains and support the next generation of strategic industries.