Risk and Reward in Central Asia’s Critical Raw Materials Boom
May 15th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at how – as Brussels, Beijing, Moscow, and Washington scramble to secure key materials for clean energy and new tech – they have begun to size up the region’s potential. Not long ago, critical raw materials (CRMs) – metals and minerals essential for technology, green energy, and defense – were […]
Read more »To Secure Exports To Europe, China Reconfigures Its Rail Links
April 7th, 2025
Via The Economist, a look at how China – to secure exports to Europe – is reconfiguring its rail links: China says its ties with Russia involve “back-to-back, shoulder-to-shoulder” co-operation. Yet when it comes to concerns about security for its growing exports to Europe, the People’s Republic would rather not depend on its best friend. Map: The Economist […]
Read more »China’s Expanding Footprint in Uzbekistan
April 1st, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at how Tashkent is seeking to maintain strong economic ties with Beijing while addressing public concerns about their possible impacts on the country’s sovereignty: Sinophobia has been noticeably on the rise in Uzbekistan in recent weeks, especially on social media. Increasing viral content about unverified land sales to Chinese investors and the […]
Read more »Afghanistan and Uzbekistan Reach Agreement On Railway Project
February 26th, 2025
Via AMU.tv, a report on a new agreement between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan on a railway project: Taliban’s deputy chief minister, Abdul Ghani Baradar, said on Sunday that they reached an agreement with Uzbekistan on the planned Hairatan-Herat railway project as the Uzbek side will send its team for feasibility studies. Addressing reporters upon returning from […]
Read more »‘It Risks Becoming a Venice in the Desert’: The Dark Side of Uzbekistan’s Tourism Boom
February 14th, 2025
Via BBC, a report on Uzbekistan’s ambitious tourism drive: The Uzbekistan government is on an ambitious tourism drive – but is sparring with heritage experts over how to protect its historical sites. The sound of a jackhammer rattles through the air. In Bukhara, a former trading hub on the ancient Silk Road in what is […]
Read more »Uzbekistan: The Next Critical Minerals Hub?
February 3rd, 2025
Via Global Trade Review, an article on how Uzbekistan which has an abundance of high-value commodities – minerals and metals – that will be vital to the energy transition. Could this resource-rich, landlocked country become a key supply source for the US and Europe? Uzbekistan, one of Central Asia’s largest economies, was for many years […]
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.