Archive for the ‘Kazakhstan’ Category

Gulf States And Central Asian Republics

Via Eurasia Review, an article on growing linkages between the Gulf states and Central Asia: Trade, transit and energy topped the agenda when foreign ministers from the GCC and Central Asian republics met in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last week for their second “strategic dialogue”, following an inaugural event in Jeddah last July. The six Gulf states […]

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To Secure Kazakhstan’s Uranium, Chinese Players Were Compelled to Accommodate Local Partners

Via Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a report on Kazakhstan’s leverage its natural uranium resources to hold the reins in its nuclear fuel–related dealings with China: China has become a global power, but there is too little debate about how this has happened and what it means. Many argue that China exports its developmental model and […]

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Central Asia’s Critical Raw Materials: The Next Frontier in Global Power Rivalry?

Via Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting, a report on the strategic position of Central Asian nations within the rare earth metals’ geopolitical landscape: Eldaniz Gusseinov of the Ibn Khaldun University’s Heydar Aliyev Center for Eurasian Studies, alongside Abakhon Sultonazarov, IWPR Central Asia Regional Director, contend that the interplay between Central Asia’s ties with the […]

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China’s Exports To Central Asia Are Booming

Via Asia Times, a report on China’s growing commercial engagement with Central Asia: Central Asia is becoming one of Eurasia’s main trade and transit hubs, with Kazakhstan in the forefront. Sino-Central Asian trade turnover stood atUS$89.4 billion at the end of 2023, a 27% increase over the 2022 level of US$70.2 billion, according to China’s Customs Agency.  Of that total, US$61.4 billion represented Chinese exports to the region. Trade between China and Kazakhstan alone clocked […]

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Can Kazakhstan Stay the Course on Economic Reform?

Via The Diplomat, commentary on whether – as Astana moves from crisis management to long-term planning mode – Kazakhstan’s government can stick to its economic reform plans: This week, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev shuffled his government. Besides new Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, notable new appointments included Finance Minister Madi Takiyev, and National Economy Minister Nurlan Baybazarov. The […]

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Bitcoin Mining Was Booming in Kazakhstan. Then It Was Gone.

Via MIT Technology Review, an article on how bitcoin miners initially flocked to Kazakhstan to take advantage of cheap energy and loose regulation. Now most of them have moved on, leaving little behind but moldering equipment and social tension. To reach Kazakhstan’s largest bitcoin mine, you need to travel deep into the country’s rust belt, […]

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WILDCATS AND BLACK SHEEP
Wildcats & Black Sheep is a personal interest blog dedicated to the identification and evaluation of maverick investment opportunities arising in frontier - and, what some may consider to be, “rogue” or “black sheep” - markets around the world.

Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.