C5+1 - The Times Of Central Asia

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AMM 2026

Kazakhstan Seeks More Than Extraction as U.S. Minerals Interest Grows

Kazakhstan is using renewed U.S. interest in critical minerals to push a larger industrial goal: moving beyond raw-material exports and into processing, technology transfer, and higher-value manufacturing. That ambition was on display in Astana this week across two closely linked but distinct events. The C5+1 Critical Minerals Dialogue, held on June 10, brought together representatives of the five Central Asian states and the United States for a diplomatic discussion on supply-chain cooperation. The following day, the 16th International Mining and Metallurgy Congress and Exhibition, Astana Mining & Metallurgy (AMM) 2026 opened as an industry forum for mining companies, investors, technology providers, and government officials. The proximity was deliberate; the purposes were different. For Kazakhstan, the issue is not only foreign demand. It wants critical minerals to support a wider industrial strategy, including domestic processing, engineering capacity, and new manufacturing clusters. June 10: The C5+1 Diplomatic Track The C5+1 dialogue brought together representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the United States. Its agenda covered geological exploration, surveying and mapping, mining and processing, logistics, and global value and supply chains. Kazakhstan’s Minister of Industry and Construction, Yersayin Nagaspayev, used the dialogue to present critical minerals as part of the country’s industrial policy rather than simply as an export opportunity. U.S. Special Envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs Sergio Gor represented Washington at the meeting. “Kazakhstan is interested not only in exporting raw materials, but also in developing joint production facilities, technology transfer, workforce training, and scientific cooperation,” Nagaspayev said. That point is central to Astana’s pitch. Kazakhstan has long been a major mining state, but the government is increasingly presenting critical minerals as a way to change the structure of the economy. Nagaspayev said the country has more than 9,500 mineral deposits, including more than 100 that contain rare and rare-earth metals. Kazakhstan holds significant deposits of tungsten and molybdenum and has the potential to establish a domestic raw-material base for tantalum and niobium production. It also has reserves of lithium and beryllium, which are important for advanced manufacturing, electronics, aerospace, energy storage, and defense-related industries. Kazakhstan has proven reserves or active production of roughly half of the 54 minerals identified as critical by the United States, according to Al-Farabi Ydyryshev, director general of the National Center for Technological Forecasting under the Industrial Committee. Ydyryshev said Kazakhstan already has extraction and processing capacity for materials used in aerospace, electronics, energy, and defense industries, including beryllium, tantalum, niobium, titanium, and rhenium. The question is whether those capabilities can be expanded into higher-value production. Washington’s interest in Central Asia has grown as critical minerals have become a larger part of economic security policy. China remains dominant in the production and processing of many minerals needed for batteries, semiconductors, renewable energy, digital infrastructure, and advanced defense systems. Speaking at the June 10 meeting, Gor linked the minerals agenda to the need for diversification. “Our economic security depends on our ability to diversify our access to critical minerals,” Gor said. “Ensuring reliable access...

C5+1

U.S. Convenes Critical Minerals Dialogue with Central Asian Officials in Kazakhstan

ASTANA — The United States opened a new round of high-level critical minerals talks with Central Asian governments in Astana on June 10, with U.S. Special Envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs Sergio Gor saying Washington is placing new emphasis on a region it sees as central to global commerce, connectivity, and secure supply chains. Speaking at the C5+1 Critical Minerals Dialogue, Gor said Central Asia “has not gotten the attention it deserves from the United States,” and that the Trump administration had decided to change that. “We care about this region, we want to be involved with this region, we want to identify win-win situations for the United States and your nations,” Gor said. The meeting, held at The Ritz-Carlton in Astana, brought together officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the United States. The program included sessions on geological exploration, surveying and mapping, mining and processing, and global value and supply chains, followed by a government-business networking reception. Gor thanked Kazakhstan for hosting what he described as the first in-person C5+1 Critical Minerals Dialogue and said he had met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev shortly before the session. Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said that ahead of the dialogue, Gor and Kazakh Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev had discussed economic and investment partnerships, innovation, artificial intelligence, education, transport, logistics, and critical minerals. The ministry also said the sides discussed the implementation of agreements reached between Tokayev and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in November 2025. Gor framed the Astana meeting as part of a broader increase in U.S. engagement with Central Asia following the C5+1 leaders’ meeting in Washington last year. He said critical minerals are now a central part of that engagement because they are essential to infrastructure, advanced technologies, industry, and national defense. “Our economic security depends on our ability to diversify our access to critical minerals,” Gor said. “Ensuring reliable access to these materials requires not only expanding production, but also building resilient, transparent, and market-driven supply chains in close partnership with trusted partners.” He added that the Central Asian states represented at the table were exactly the partners Washington wants to work with. “There’s a reason we’re sitting at this table and not at another table around the world,” Gor said. “It’s because this is where we want to work. This is where we have identified trusted partners.” Gor highlighted the role of U.S. commercial and development-finance tools in supporting investment, saying Washington is prepared to back American companies working in the region. “The United States government stands behind American companies,” Gor said. “There is no such thing as a deal too small.” Gor also pointed to the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, saying it was preparing to “invest and build” in the region and saw potential in critical minerals, telecommunications, and Trans-Caspian infrastructure. He said DFC saw “potential to transform the region’s rich deposits of critical minerals into the foundation of a new wave of industrialization.” “President Trump understands the importance of...

C5+1

From Culture to Critical Minerals: C5+1 Opens Busy U.S. Week in Central Asia

The United States and Central Asia moved another part of the C5+1 agenda into a working-level form on June 5, when culture officials from the five Central Asian states and Washington met in Tashkent. The meeting came just days before a separate C5+1 critical minerals session in Astana, giving the week a wider agenda: cultural heritage, public diplomacy, mining, investment, and supply chains are now moving forward in the same regional format. The Tashkent meeting brought together Uzbekistan's Minister of Culture Ozodbek Nazarbekov, Kazakhstan's Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva, Kyrgyzstan's Minister of Culture, Information and Youth Policy Mirbek Mambetaliev, Tajikistan's Minister of Culture Matluba Sattoriyon, Turkmenistan's Deputy Minister of Culture Gurbanmurad Miradaliev, and Sarah Rogers, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. The agenda covered cultural and humanitarian cooperation, joint cultural projects, creative exchanges, and the protection and promotion of cultural heritage. Participants discussed a permanent C5+1 Working Group on Culture, a C5+1 Culture and Innovation Forum, closer cooperation in the creative industries, and more places for Central Asian cultural professionals in U.S. education and exchange programs. Uzbekistan also proposed joint English for Culture centers with U.S. partners at cultural education institutions. In practical terms, that could mean joint training for museum staff, touring exhibitions, film and music exchanges, English-language programs for curators and cultural managers, and U.S.-backed workshops for people working in heritage, tourism, and the creative industries. For Uzbekistan, the proposed centers would give the agenda a physical base inside cultural education institutions rather than leaving it at the level of declarations. The meeting ended with a protocol, which reaffirmed the parties' commitment to the cultural heritage agenda adopted after the Washington summit in November 2025. The International Institute for Central Asia said it covered cooperation through joint events and festivals in art, literature, theater, cinema, and music. Kazakhstan's side also tied the discussion to museum partnerships, digitization of heritage, professional exchanges, tourism routes, and digital projects. The Tashkent talks grew out of the C5+1 leaders’ meeting in Washington, where culture joined a wider list of priorities. That summit marked ten years of U.S. engagement with the region through the format, which began in 2015 and has since expanded from foreign-minister meetings to expert groups and presidential-level summits. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that the November 2025 summit shifted the format from broad diplomacy toward deliverable agreements, with critical minerals, aviation, supply chains, and business ties among the main areas of focus. Culture fits into that agenda, as Central Asian governments see heritage, tourism, film, music, museums, and the creative industries as economic sectors as well as identity markers. For the United States, public diplomacy gives Washington a way to stay active in the region outside security and energy talks. It also gives the C5+1 a soft-power layer, using language programs, museum links, heritage projects, and creative exchanges to build influence without framing the relationship only around security or resources. Heritage protection has a security side as well. Trafficking...

Middle Powers

Opinion: Middle Powers and the “Voice of the Region” – Is Central Asia Becoming a Coordinated Actor?

Against the backdrop of growing global fragmentation and the weakening of universal international institutions, the role of so-called middle powers is increasing. These are states able to influence regional agendas without possessing great-power status. In this changing system, Central Asia is gradually moving beyond its long-standing image as a geopolitical periphery and is beginning to act more like a region with shared interests. For decades, the region was viewed mainly as a space where the interests of external powers, including Russia, China, the U.S., and others, intersected. Today, that paradigm is beginning to shift. Central Asia is showing greater signs of agency through what may be described as a cluster effect: individually, the countries have limited influence, but collectively they form an important transit hub between Europe and Asia, a growing market, a significant resource base, and a strategic security zone. This creates the conditions for a more coordinated regional position, even if a single regional voice is still emerging rather than fully formed. C5+Azerbaijan as a Foundation for Regional Architecture The institutional foundation of this process is the Central Asian leaders' consultative format, which is now expanding through Azerbaijan's participation. That is turning what was once a C5 dialogue into a looser C5+Azerbaijan, or C6, framework focused on transport, energy, and practical cooperation. Within this framework, the countries of the region are learning to act in a more coordinated manner without supranational pressure. In practice, this process is developing through three main areas. The first is transport and logistics. Azerbaijan's participation has strengthened efforts to make the Middle Corridor more coherent, though the route still faces bottlenecks in capacity, customs coordination, and Caspian crossings. Through tariff coordination, simplified border procedures, and investment in port and rail infrastructure, Central Asia and the Caucasus are increasingly functioning as parts of a single transport artery. That gives the region a faster option for cargo between China and Europe, even if it remains far smaller than traditional maritime routes. Shipping goods via the Suez Canal or the northern route can take between 35 and 45 days, whereas the Middle Corridor can reduce transit times to around 13-21 days under favorable conditions. According to forecasts cited by BCG, shipping volumes along the route could increase three- to fourfold during the current decade. Beyond logistics, the project is creating a new economic framework for the region. Its status as a crossroads is attracting investment in transport hubs and manufacturing facilities along the route, with the potential to turn transit corridors into zones of economic growth. This gives participating countries not only transit revenue but a stronger basis for long-term strategic resilience. The second major area is energy integration, where historical disputes over water and fuel resources are increasingly being supplemented by models of joint development. The Kambarata HPP-1 hydropower project in Kyrgyzstan, being developed with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, has created an important precedent for shared management of water and energy interests. The project is expected to support cleaner electricity generation while helping stabilize irrigation flows...

Mining

Astana Mining Congress to Highlight Kazakhstan’s Role in Critical Minerals

The 16th International Mining and Metallurgy Congress and Exhibition, Astana Mining & Metallurgy (AMM) 2026, will take place on June 11-12 at the Hilton Astana, bringing together mining and metals companies, investors, technology suppliers, government officials, and industry experts. The forum comes as Kazakhstan is trying to strengthen its position in the global critical minerals race. The country already has a large extractive base, but officials and industry groups are increasingly focused on processing, technology, and investment partnerships rather than raw-material exports alone. Kazakhstan’s appeal lies not only in the size of its mineral base, but also in the timing. The U.S. Department of Commerce says the country has substantial reserves of rare earth elements, copper, lithium, tungsten, tantalum, and other materials used in clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and defense technologies. The European Union has also signed a strategic partnership with Kazakhstan on raw materials, batteries, and renewable hydrogen, underscoring Astana’s growing role in efforts to diversify supply chains away from dominant producers. According to Kazakhstan's Bureau of National Statistics, the country's industrial production index reached 107.5% in 2025. Mining and quarrying grew by 9.4%, driven by higher production of coal, crude oil, natural gas, and other minerals. Organizers said the wider mining and metallurgical complex, including related industries such as mechanical engineering, logistics, energy, and industrial services, may account for up to a quarter of Kazakhstan's economy. Against that backdrop, they said the sector needs new investment, technological solutions, and expanded international partnerships. Alongside the congress, an international specialized exhibition dedicated to mining and metallurgical technologies will be held. The exhibition will feature solutions for geological exploration, extraction and processing of raw materials, industrial automation, and workplace safety. Companies from Germany, Kazakhstan, Canada, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, and Sweden are expected to participate. National delegations from Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Sweden are also expected to attend. Among the new participants announced by organizers are INCO Engineering, ABP Engineering, David Brown Santasalo, and Actuator Service. Last year's event attracted about 2,900 industry professionals, while 50 companies participated in the exhibition. The business program will be held under the slogan “From the Depths of the Earth to the Heights of Intelligence,” with a focus on digitalization and technological transformation in the industry. The first day will include a plenary session on global partnerships in mining and metallurgy, as well as panel discussions on international metals trade, the investment climate, taxation, and critical minerals. Particular attention will be paid to copper's role as a strategic metal. Copper is central to electrification, grid expansion, and data infrastructure, making it one of the metals most closely tied to the energy transition. The critical minerals component gives the event a wider geopolitical significance. Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry said in April that Astana had invited the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg to participate in AMM and the first C5+1 Critical Minerals Dialogue, both scheduled for June in Astana. The C5+1 format brings together the...

U.S.-Kazakhstan Relations

Rubio Meeting Highlights Kazakhstan’s Growing U.S. Agenda

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s April 15 meeting with senior Kazakh officials in Washington gave fresh visibility to a relationship that both sides increasingly frame in economic as well as diplomatic terms. At a time when Washington is trying to give its Central Asia policy more practical shape, Kazakhstan is a key U.S. partner in the region. Rubio met President Tokayev’s Special Representative for Negotiations with the United States, Erzhan Kazykhan, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy, Serik Zhumangarin. The talks covered ways to expand economic ties between the United States and Kazakhstan, as well as Kazakhstan’s role in peacemaking and regional initiatives. Rubio also welcomed Kazakhstan’s participation in the C5+1 platform and reaffirmed U.S. support for the country’s “sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.” In a post on X, Rubio said the talks focused on strengthening commercial ties and advancing regional cooperation. That language put trade, investment, and regional economic coordination at the center of the meeting. Launched in 2015, the C5+1 began as a diplomatic framework linking the United States and the five Central Asian states. It later broadened into a more structured platform, with working groups on trade, energy, and the environment, and with growing emphasis on logistics, diversification, supply chains, and investment. The rise of the B5+1 reinforced that shift by giving business a more formal place in the relationship. By late 2025, the format placed more emphasis on deliverables, including infrastructure, funding mechanisms, and cooperation on mineral processing and research. That shift has also been visible in Kazakhstan’s own dealings with Washington. During President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to the United States in November 2025, the Kazakh delegation signed 29 bilateral agreements worth about $17 billion, including a memorandum on critical minerals cooperation and major commercial deals in aviation, agriculture, and mining. The same visit underlined how closely economic diplomacy and strategic supply concerns are now tied together. Kazakhstan has attracted roughly $100 billion in cumulative U.S. investment since independence, and critical minerals have moved closer to the center of the relationship as Washington looks for secure supply chains beyond China and Russia. Kazakhstan has attracted over $151 billion in net foreign direct investment since independence. Rubio’s talks with Zhumangarin and Kazykhan came after months of stronger U.S.-Kazakhstan economic contact. Kazakhstan has a larger economic profile than any other Central Asian state, and its role in energy, critical minerals, investment, and transit gives it a prominent place in Washington’s regional thinking. That makes Astana a natural focus for any U.S. push to deepen commercial ties in Central Asia. The sovereignty language in the U.S. readout was also not incidental. For Kazakhstan, public backing from Washington on sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity carries political weight in a region where questions of borders, pressure, and strategic dependence remain sensitive. Astana’s multi-vector foreign policy is built on preserving room for maneuver among larger powers. High-level engagement in Washington supports that strategy and signals that closer U.S. ties can sit alongside Kazakhstan’s broader balancing act. The Washington...