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Kazakhstan pitches investors an AI state built on a strained grid
At the 38th Foreign Investors’ Council in Astana, President Tokayev put artificial intelligence, digital sovereignty and critical minerals at the centre of Kazakhstan’s investment offer. The pitch is coherent. The power system underneath it is the open question.
Over a third of Tajikistan’s exports now go to one country, and it is Switzerland
Switzerland became Tajikistan’s third-largest trading partner in January-May, overtaking Kazakhstan, and its largest export market by far: 36.3% of everything Tajikistan sold abroad, worth $508 million, went to one Alpine country. The likely cargo is gold, and the pattern says as much about Tajikistan’s budget as about its trade.
Central Asia’s shortcut to the sea runs through a war
Landlocked Central Asia wants a fast route to the ocean through Afghanistan and Pakistan. The war between them has shut that door for now, and it is pushing Afghanistan’s own trade north into Central Asia instead. Both shifts redraw the region’s map of dependence.
Kazakhstan signs into America’s AI bloc, the same week it was China’s guest of honour
Kazakhstan joined Pax Silica, the US-led coalition to build AI supply chains outside China, signing the accession in Washington on 27 June. It is the first Central Asian state to join. The signature is days old, and it lands in the same week Kazakhstan was guest of honour at China’s Eurasia expo and agreed to route its disaster data through Xinjiang.
At China’s Eurasia expo, Kazakhstan is guest of honour and the trade runs one way
Kazakhstan was the guest of honour last week at the China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, where Astana and Beijing set a target of $100 billion in annual trade. China’s trade with Central Asia passed $100 billion for the first time in 2025. The flows, and the advantage, point mostly one way.
Tajikistan’s workforce will add two million by 2040. The jobs are the missing half
Tajikistan’s working-age population will grow by more than 2 million by 2040, official projections say. Whether that becomes an engine or a pressure depends on a number the country has struggled to move: jobs created at home.
Kazakhstan wants to host Central Asia’s AI. The bottleneck is electricity
A Nasdaq-listed firm has floated a 1 gigawatt AI data centre in Kazakhstan, one of several AI projects Astana is courting in its self-declared Year of Artificial Intelligence. A gigawatt is a large power station. Kazakhstan already struggles to keep the power it has.
A Russia-anchored development bank is widening its map. Oman is joining, Mongolia is in talks
At its annual meeting in Almaty, the Eurasian Development Bank said Oman will join this year and Mongolia is in negotiations, with its portfolio now around $22 billion. A bank built by Moscow and Astana is collecting members well beyond the post-Soviet space, at a moment when one of its founders is under sanctions.
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Kazakhstan barely notices remittances. For two of its neighbours, they are the economy
New figures show Kazakhstan sent about $376 million abroad in the first four months of 2026 and took in far less. Money wired home by migrants barely registers in its economy. Two doors down, in Dushanbe and Bishkek, the same flow is most of the household budget. One region, two opposite economies.
Uzbekistan's Wednesday: plenary stage, two supertankers, and the Azteca
In a single day Uzbekistan ran its largest investment pitch, watched the first Iranian oil leave through Hormuz since the blockade, and sent eleven men to play the World Cup at the Estadio Azteca. Each is a separate story. Lined up, they describe a country that is having a moment.
A good week to be pitching Central Asia
TIIF in Tashkent, the IsDB in Baku, and the Iran deal ticking toward Geneva have converged in a single week. The timing is not accidental. Central Asia has a window, and Uzbekistan in particular is spending it hard.
Remittances remain Central Asia’s clearest stability gauge
The fastest read on Central Asian stability is the money migrants wire home from Russia. In Tajikistan it equals almost half of GDP, which makes the ruble the region’s quiet budget line.
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.
Mongolia is building a railway straight into China's steel industry — and it knows exactly what that means
83 million tonnes of coal exported to China in 2024. A new cross-border railway under construction since April 2025. $1.5 billion in additional annual revenue projected. The numbers are compelling. The dependency is real.
The corridor is booming. It is also far from competitive. A Carnegie reality check
Cargo volumes rose 63% in 2024. The corridor still handles 6% of the Russian route's capacity. A new Carnegie analysis maps the gap between ambition and infrastructure.
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
Mongolia vs Rio Tinto: The Copper Mine at the Centre of the World
Oyu Tolgoi is producing record copper, heading for fourth place globally, and generating a political crisis. Ulaanbaatar wants a renegotiation. Rio Tinto cannot afford to walk away.
The Turkic Moment: What Erdogan's Astana Visit Reveals About Kazakhstan's Strategic Choices
Thirteen agreements, a record trade surge, and a new medal — but Ankara and Astana are reading the partnership through different lenses