South Korea, the United States and Mongolia have launched a trilateral consultative body on supply chain stabilization for key minerals.

Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that vice foreign minister Lee Do-hoon held talks with Jose Fernandez of the U.S. State Department and Jambal Ganbaatar of the Mongolian mining ministry in Ulaanbaatar and launched the three-way consultative body that day.

The ministry said the three sides also exchanged opinions on cooperating in mineral sample analysis and sharing information on resource exploration.

The three nations agreed to hold working-level talks on key minerals on a regular basis and arrange a three-way business-to-business roundtable in October.

With the launch of the consultative body, a separate government-civilian session was held in Mongolia involving government officials and figures from the mineral industries of the three nations to discuss opportunities in the development of key minerals, such as rare earth metals and lithium.

Vice minister Lee also held a separate bilateral meeting with Fernandez to discuss pending economic issues between the two nations and ways to improve bilateral economic cooperation.