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 […]
Read more »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 […]
Read more »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 […]
Read more »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 […]
Read more »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 […]
Read more »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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