China’s Exports To Central Asia Are Booming
March 28th, 2024
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 »Can Kazakhstan Stay the Course on Economic Reform?
February 8th, 2024
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 »Bitcoin Mining Was Booming in Kazakhstan. Then It Was Gone.
February 5th, 2024
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, […]
Read more »Kazakhstan: Crossroads of Eurasia
February 4th, 2024
Via Geopolitical Futures, a look at Kazakhstan’s growing importance as a key hub for east-west commerce: In light of the geopolitical shifts caused by Russia’s pivot to the east, alongside China’s push to forge overland trade paths to Europe and the quest for alternatives to Russian routes, Kazakhstan’s role as a transit hub is growing […]
Read more »Central Asia’s Middle Corridor Expansion: Opportunity for China and Iran
January 27th, 2024
Via Foreign Policy Research Institute, commentary on how the Central Asia’s Middle Corridor expansion presents an opportunity for China and Iran: The sustained attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea have given a fresh boost to a budding Central Asian trade network known as the Middle Corridor, whose participant countries recently met to discuss […]
Read more »Afghanistan: Critically Important Trade Route For Kazakhstan
January 23rd, 2024
Via The Diplomat, a report on Afghanistan’s market and its position as a trade route that can connect Central Asia to South Asian ports are critically important to Kazakhstan: As the global community experiences a turbulent and unpredictable period, Kazakhstan, alongside other countries, faces a range of challenges and risks. A timely reorientation and adjustment […]
Read more »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.