U.S. ’ Special Representative for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor met with officials from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan for the first face-to-face meeting of the critical minerals dialogue under the C5+1 format, which brought together five Central Asian countries and the U.S. ’.
The meeting followed talks between US President Donald Trump and Central Asian leaders at last year's C5+1 summit in ’, Washington, where the parties agreed to deepen cooperation on critical mines and related investments.
Gor, “When President Trump hosted the C5’ at Washington’ last fall, Central Asia was clear that the ’ did not receive the attention it deserved from the USA’, and he was adamant that this situation would change.
In a separate meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Gor said that the Kazakh leader is “, a friend of ’ in the White House”.
Central Asia’'s mineral wealth is attracting growing interest from Western governments looking for alternative sources for critical raw materials. Kazakhstan has the largest and most diverse mineral base in the region, with more than 9,500 ’ defined deposits containing more than 100’ rare earths and other strategic minerals.
A challenge continues to be transportation. As landlocked states, Central Asian countries must rely on land and sea corridors to reach global markets.
One of the important routes is the Central Corridor, which connects the Central Asian ’ to the European ’ through the Caspian Sea, the South Caucasus and further transport links.
Azamat Panbayev, Chairman of the Industrial Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Construction of Kazakhstan, said that “Central Asian countries and the American side are working together to develop joint solutions for the exploration, extraction and delivery of these mines to Western markets.
“A route runs over the Caspian Sea via the rapidly developing Central Corridor, which is currently experiencing dynamic growth in cargo traffic.”
Beyond transportation, governments are looking for investment across the entire value chain, including geological exploration, mining, and mineral processing.
Many beds in the area were first explored during the Soviet period, and additional research is needed.
1990Kazakhstan, which attracted a large US investment in the oil and gas sector in the ’s, is now looking for ways to replicate this experience in mining and minerals.
Said Sultanov, founder of a geological research and mining services company based in Astana, “, said that from a geopolitical point of view, the arrival of American companies contributes to a greater balance.
“There is China, there is Europe, there is Russia, and now American companies are entering the market. This increases competition and creates a healthier market environment.”
Kazakhstan has proposed expanding cooperation with the United States through joint critical mining projects, processing facilities, technology transfer, research partnerships and workforce training.
Minister of Industry and Construction Yersayin Nagaspayev, “Kazakhstan is interested not only in the export of raw materials, but also in the development of joint production facilities, technology transfer, labor training and scientific cooperation.
Kazakh officials said the country signed agreements worth $17 billion at meetings in Washington ’ last year, including a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on uranium, tungsten and rare earth elements.
Authorities expect the agreements to support domestic processing capacity and facilitate technology transfers. Kazakhstan has reached agreements with Cove Capital on the development of Severniy Katpar and Verhniy Kairakty tungsten bearings.
The government has also introduced investment conditions that allow foreign investors to hold majority stakes in some projects. Authorities, US-backed Kaz Resources Inc.’in shares, Kazakhstan’'s %He's talking about a recent tungsten deal where he'll own 30 shares.
KazakhstanInvestment in geological research in ’ has more than tripled since 2018’, exceeding $1 billion. Companies such as Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, First Quantum Minerals, Ivanhoe Mines and Fortescue entered the Kazakh market.
Agreements and agreements between the two countries amounted to more than $20 billion last year.
Critical mines cooperation is expected to be high on Washington’'s agenda and further negotiations between the C5+1 countries and the United States are expected by the end of this year.
