Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan and South Korea deepen energy ties and edge toward a nuclear deal
Astana and Seoul advanced cooperation on power generation, oil and a planned nuclear memorandum on 8 and 9 June. South Korea is positioning itself in a country scrambling to add electricity.
Kazakhstan approves a national AI and digitalisation strategy to 2029
President Tokayev signed the Digital Qazaqstan strategy on 9 June, a plan to push artificial intelligence across the economy by 2029. It is the centrepiece of the year he declared the Year of Digitalisation and AI.
Central Asia’s critical minerals race: the deals outpace the mines
Central Asia keeps signing minerals deals with the West; China keeps taking the minerals. The gap now is bankability, power and processing.
Kazakhstan and the EU line up a Middle Corridor push before a 23 June meeting
Container traffic through Kazakhstan jumped by a third in the first quarter, and Brussels is leaning in before a high-level corridor meeting on 23 June.
EBRD and Kazakhstan sign a new five-year cooperation agreement in Riga
The enhanced partnership framework runs to 2030. Private sector development, low-carbon transition, and Middle Corridor infrastructure are the three priorities.
Tencent is now a Kaspi.kz shareholder: what a $518 million bet on Kazakhstan means
The deal closed in April. The implications are still unfolding. China's largest consumer tech company has a stake in Kazakhstan's dominant super app.
EBRD Annual Meeting opens in Riga: what Central Asia is watching
The bank's 35th gathering runs 5 to 7 June. The Governors' plenary is 6 June. The updated Regional Economic Prospects drop 7 June. Central Asian finance ministers are in the room.
What GITEX in Astana revealed about Central Asia's tech ambitions
600+ exhibitors, 60 countries, 10,000 professionals over three days. Kazakhstan hosted the first GITEX Central Asia & Caucasus. The event closed 4 June.
Cyprus on the Middle Corridor: Tokayev recruits a Mediterranean shipping hub
A Kazakhstan-Cyprus Business Forum in Astana. An EU-Kazakhstan transport seminar the same day. Both pointed at the same 23 June meeting.
What the EBRD is bringing to Riga, and what Central Asia should watch
The Bank's 35th Annual Meeting opens Thursday. For the region, three things matter: the new Regional Economic Prospects, the Aktau port investment, and the signal on Trans-Caspian financing.
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BTK goes full throttle: the upgraded Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway enters operation
Capacity jumped from 1 to 5 million tonnes a year. The Middle Corridor's western spine is no longer a bottleneck.
The SCO at 25: a quarter-century of summits, zero kilometres of new railway
The anniversary session in St. Petersburg today will celebrate what the organisation has become. The Central Asian members are more interested in what it might finally build
The level of the delegation is the message
Central Asia is in St. Petersburg this week, but not equally. What each country’s roster says about where the relationship with Russia actually stands
Kazakhstan sells 3.4 billion yuan in debut sovereign panda bond
Demand was twice the supply. The Ministry of Finance calls it proof of Chinese investor confidence in Kazakhstani macroeconomics.
Putin ends Astana visit with Ukraine warnings and EAEU posturing
The Russian president used the Eurasian Economic Forum platform for some of his sharpest public language on Ukraine in months, delivered from Kazakhstan’s capital
Baku-Supsa pipeline returns: Kazakhstan oil joins the rerouting
A deal signed during Kobakhidze’s Baku visit on 18 May restores a dormant Caspian export route, and Astana is already looking at it