Supply Chains - The Times Of Central Asia

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Transport and Logistics

Uzbekistan’s Logistics Push Aims to Turn Transit Growth into Revenue

Tashkent is trying to turn a fast rise in transit cargo into a larger role in Eurasian trade. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed proposals on July 1 to expand logistics centers, modernize border infrastructure, digitalize warehouse and customs systems, and attract private investment into transport hubs. Transit cargo through Uzbekistan reached 15.3 million tons in 2025, up 54% from 2021. Yet Uzbekistan's share of China-Europe transit freight remains only 1-2%. Annual China-Europe trade is estimated at $800 billion, while freight traffic reaches 120-150 million tons. Officials estimate that an extra 15-20 million tons of international transit cargo could bring $400-600 million in added revenue, attract $3 billion of investment into logistics centers and terminals, and create 50,000 permanent jobs. The logistics push comes as Uzbekistan’s trade base becomes larger and more exposed to transport costs. Uzbekistan's foreign trade turnover reached $81.2 billion in 2025, up 20.7% from 2024, with exports at $33.8 billion and imports at $47.4 billion. The 2026 figures are more uneven. In January-May, turnover rose 3.7% year on year to $32.8 billion, but imports climbed 20.8% while exports fell 15.5%. Gold sales drove much of the export decline. Excluding gold, goods exports grew 29.4%, which gives Tashkent a clear reason to cut freight costs, speed up customs clearance, and expand container capacity. Uzbekistan already has about 4,000 kilometers of international transit corridors and a 4,700-kilometer railway network, but officials say the system remains too thin for the cargo volumes Tashkent wants to attract. Modern transport and logistics centers and dry ports are being developed in Tashkent, Navoi, and Namangan, while Navoi Airport serves Eurasian cargo routes. The July 1 proposals show how much still needs to change. Uzbekistan has 27 logistics centers that meet international standards, with total capacity of 27.2 million tons, but only one is in the highest category. Class A automated warehouses meet only 10-15% of demand. Officials also cited weak capacity at many border checkpoints, refrigerated and customs warehouse shortages, low containerization, and poor digital links. The new plan would specialize six areas as logistics zones. Khanabad would handle China-linked routes toward the Caspian, Europe, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. Angren, Yangiyul, and Akhangaran would distribute transit and foreign trade cargo. Alat would support Middle Corridor routes, and Termez would focus on Pakistan via Afghanistan. Entrepreneurs who build logistics centers in these locations would be offered 50 hectares of land in each area. The government plans to allocate $200 million a year in concessional and low-interest credit lines, with the budget covering external infrastructure. Projects also include customs terminals and parking in Qibray and Termez, a rail border checkpoint in Khanabad, Yangiyul station expansion, and a Class A center in Akhangaran. Digital systems form another part of the package. The proposals call for terminal and warehouse management systems linked to the E-logistika platform. They also include online monitoring, license plate recognition, electronic vehicle registration, and one-stop border clearance. Customs duties and certification rules may be eased for imported warehouse equipment, cargo-handling machinery, spare parts, and...

Mining

S&P Global Energy Executive Says Kazakhstan Can Move Toward Mining’s Top Tier

Wesley Monteiro, Global Market Engagement Lead at S&P Global Energy/Platts, said Kazakhstan has one of the strongest chances among mining jurisdictions to move from tier-two toward tier-one, speaking to The Times of Central Asia on June 12 on the sidelines of the Astana Mining & Metallurgy Congress in Astana. “This is the country with a big chance to move from tier-two to tier-one,” Monteiro said. He developed that argument around five factors: mineral breadth, scalable copper production, uranium, legacy mining waste, and Kazakhstan’s diplomatic architecture. “Actually, this is the only country in the world that has this combination,” he said. Monteiro used Canada and Australia as reference points for established first-tier mining countries. Kazakhstan is not yet in that category, he said, but the combination he described gives the country a credible path toward it. Monteiro was speaking from the S&P Global Energy/Platts side of the company, which provides market information, price benchmarks, supply-demand analysis, and commodity-sector intelligence, rather than from S&P Global Ratings. Kazakhstan, in his view, is being reassessed as part of a new global commodity framework shaped by energy security and flexibility, and materials security and flexibility. In that environment, Kazakhstan’s position could help reduce investor risk perception and support new or increased investment in the region. “We can see in the short to medium term a reduction in the risk perception that can trigger new investments or can increase the investments in the region,” Monteiro said. He then expanded on each of the five factors. Mineral Breadth The first pillar was mineral breadth. Monteiro pointed to copper, aluminum, zinc, uranium, and other minerals. He described this range as “mineral breadth” or “mineral range,” distinguishing Kazakhstan from mining jurisdictions built around a single resource. For Monteiro, that range was the starting point for the tier-one argument. Scalable Copper Production Within that mineral breadth, Monteiro singled out copper as the second pillar. Copper is central to the infrastructure behind electrification, power grids, data centers, and AI computing, and Monteiro said the demand is not distant or theoretical. “Now everyone needs copper, not 15 years from now — yesterday, actually,” he said. For Monteiro, Kazakhstan’s copper position is therefore not only about reserves. He distinguished between having the resource, having the capacity to produce it, and being able to develop it quickly. “One thing is to have,” he said. “Another thing is the capacity to have the production. The third thing is how fast you can develop this.” Uranium Uranium was the third pillar in Monteiro’s account of Kazakhstan’s mining position. He framed it through the renewed global debate over nuclear power, saying the sector has returned to strategic relevance after years in which some governments moved away from it following the Fukushima accident in 2011. Germany, he said, became the clearest example of that retreat, while France maintained a large nuclear base and, in his view, emerged in a stronger position. “Nuclear is back in the game,” Monteiro said. He said the renewed interest in nuclear power is...

Critical Minerals

Uzbekistan’s $4.2 Billion Critical Minerals Plan Aims to Turn Raw Materials Into Industry

Uzbekistan has placed a $4.2 billion critical minerals program at the center of its industrial policy, as Tashkent seeks to turn Soviet-era mining strengths into higher-value production for modern supply chains. The country has long sold metals and minerals, but the program reviewed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on June 15 puts more emphasis on refining, laboratory work, skilled workers, and finished industrial goods. The new 2026-2030 program, which sets out 120 projects, aims to lift critical minerals output to $1 billion by 2028 and $2 billion by 2030. The first tranche, planned for this year, covers 12 projects worth $166 million and production of high-purity selenium, tellurium, and rhenium. It also includes 21 import-substituting products, including powder metallurgy auto parts and sulfuric acid. The plan landed as investors gathered in Tashkent for the Fifth Tashkent International Investment Forum. Mirziyoyev used the forum to make a broader reform pitch. “We are always open to investors interested in cooperating with Uzbekistan and ready for an equal and mutually beneficial partnership,” he said in his opening speech. He also announced plans for a Tashkent International Financial Center with zero rates for profit tax, value-added tax, property tax, and customs duties. Critical minerals give that investment pitch a clearer focus. Global buyers are looking for supplies that do not depend on a handful of processing hubs, while resource-rich countries want more of the value to stay at home. Uzbekistan is trying to move into that field with metals it already produces, especially tungsten and molybdenum, and with smaller but valuable materials used in electronics, aerospace, energy equipment, and advanced manufacturing. The Uzbekistan Technological Metals Complex, known as TMK or UzTMK, is the state vehicle for much of this work. The company says its portfolio includes tungsten, molybdenum, rhenium, graphite, selenium, tellurium, lithium, nickel, and cobalt. Its stated model is “mine-metal-market,” meaning a chain from extraction to metal products and buyers. The June 15 package adds practical details. Uzbekistan wants more than concentrates and semi-finished goods. The presidential briefing listed metal powders, alloys, rods, wire, industrial parts, and finished products. For tungsten and molybdenum, that means deeper processing inside Uzbekistan rather than sending value abroad. Chirchik, east of Tashkent, is set to play a larger role. The government plans to expand the Metals of the Future technopark and build up an R&D center there. The site is designed to support start-ups, commercialize applied research, and produce high-purity metals. A planned nano-analysis laboratory would process up to 1,000 samples a day once fully operational. Officials say it could replace $6.5 million in imported analytical services and generate $4 million through service exports. The lab is one of the more practical parts of the program. Mining projects need more than deposits and investment pledges. They need reliable samples, resource estimates that meet international standards, steady power, and proven processing methods. A credible laboratory in Chirchik would not remove all those risks, but it would make it easier to move from geological data to financed projects. Global demand...

TRIPP

The 43 Kilometers That Could Rewire Eurasia

The Caspian Policy Center’s Trans-Caspian Forum 2026 convened U.S. and regional officials at the National Press Club in Washington on June 10 for a discussion of peace, economic security, and durable partnerships. The forum framed a short Armenia-based link as part of a wider effort to turn the Middle Corridor into a working route for cargo, energy, data, and capital. The strategic dialogue was chaired by Dr. Eric Rudenshiold, CPC research director and senior fellow. Speakers included Aryeh Lightstone, Senior Advisor to the Board of Peace and to Ambassador Steve Witkoff; Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to Azerbaijan’s president and foreign-policy department head; Yerzhan Kazykhan, Kazakhstan’s presidential representative for U.S. negotiations; Javlon Vakhabov, deputy adviser to Uzbekistan’s president on foreign policy; and Edil Baisalov, Kyrgyzstan’s ambassador to the United States and presidential special envoy. The meeting came as Washington tries to turn the Armenia-Azerbaijan thaw, the C5+1 critical minerals agenda, and private-sector interest into routes that can move cargo, energy, data, and capital across the Caspian. The discussion cast the Middle Corridor as the main strategic alternative linking Central Asian production to western markets. The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) refers to a planned 43-kilometer link through southern Armenia’s Syunik province, near Meghri and the Arax River, that would connect Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave. With rail, road, energy, and digital infrastructure, TRIPP is intended to plug into the wider Trans-Caspian route from Central Asia through Azerbaijan and Türkiye to Europe. Aryeh Lightstone opened by placing connectivity inside the Trump administration’s peace and economic-security agenda. His remarks tied Armenia-Azerbaijan diplomacy, the Board of Peace, and the Abraham Accords to the claim that commerce can reinforce peace where standard diplomacy stalled. Lightstone shifted the subject from maps to execution. Customs, regulatory harmonization, digital trade platforms, border procedures, and bankable investment vehicles will decide whether the Middle Corridor becomes a reliable system, he said. His reference to a TRIPP Plus Enterprise Fund pointed to U.S. structures that can move from declarations to projects. Hikmet Hajiyev presented Azerbaijan as the hinge of that system. The Caspian, he argued, does not separate Azerbaijan from Central Asia, but unites them. His line that C5+1 was mathematics while the C6 was chemistry captured Baku’s framing. Azerbaijan is positioning itself as a logistical and strategic extension of Central Asia, connected through Turkic institutions, energy routes, rail, ports, aviation, and digital links. Hajiyev described the Middle Corridor as moving from a supplementary transit route into a strategic geoeconomic system, linking Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail capacity, Baku port, Nakhchivan, TRIPP, and the planned Trans-Caspian fiber-optic cable with Kazakhstan. Ambassador Kazykhan presented Kazakhstan’s strategic value as something built over time and backed by material capacity, not diplomatic positioning alone. Kazakhstan is by far the region’s largest economy, with the IMF projecting 2026 GDP of about $360 billion. Kazykhan said more than 600 American companies operate in Kazakhstan and cumulative U.S. investment has surpassed $100 billion. Kazakhstan also supplies about 24% of U.S. uranium imports and has reserves or production capacity linked...

AMM 2026

Ambassador Kazykhan Calls for U.S.–Kazakhstan Critical Minerals Projects at AMM Congress

ASTANA — Ambassador Yerzhan Kazykhan, Kazakhstan’s presidential representative for negotiations with the United States, delivered the opening remarks at the U.S.–Kazakhstan Country Roundtable during the Astana Mining & Metallurgy Congress on June 11, calling for expanding bilateral ties to be turned into practical critical minerals projects. The roundtable brought together U.S. officials, American businesses, and Kazakh counterparts to discuss practical measures for advancing projects in the critical minerals sector. His remarks focused on turning the U.S.–Kazakhstan minerals agenda into projects, investment, offtake agreements, processing capacity, and more resilient supply chains. Kazykhan placed the discussion within President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s broader effort to deepen the U.S.–Kazakhstan relationship around energy, supply-chain security, investment, and critical minerals. According to the transcript of his remarks, he referred to the November 6 meeting between Tokayev and U.S. President Donald J. Trump, saying the two leaders had met “to unlock the substantial potential” of what the U.S. State Department had called “A New Era” in bilateral relations. “The strategic understanding reached by our leaders was fully aligned with the national interests of both countries,” Kazykhan said. He said that understanding included support for energy security, supply-chain resilience, and a “shared commitment to strengthening cooperation in energy, rare earths, and other critical minerals.” He argued that the agenda had already moved beyond diplomacy. “You can see these priorities are not abstract,” Kazykhan said. “They are being advanced through concrete partnerships that strengthen industrial capacity, accelerate technological development, and support emerging fields such as artificial intelligence.” Kazykhan presented Kazakhstan as a strategic partner for Washington at a time when the United States and its allies are seeking alternatives to concentrated supply chains for minerals used in defense, energy, advanced manufacturing, and emerging technologies. “Kazakhstan is uniquely positioned to serve as a strategic partner for the United States, one that can offer increased resilience and enhanced competitiveness,” Kazykhan said. He described Kazakhstan as “a reliable and substantial supplier” and “a Middle Power with regional influence, a diversified industrial base, and one of the world’s top 50 economies.” He also pointed to Kazakhstan’s mineral base, saying the country holds top-ten reserves of tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, nickel, cobalt, and lithium, along with deposits of other critical elements. Kazakhstan is also the world’s largest uranium producer, accounting for about 40% of global output and more than 20% of U.S. natural uranium imports, he said. But Kazykhan’s central argument was that Kazakhstan should not be viewed only as a source of raw materials. He said durable supply-chain security requires processing, refining, and integration into higher-value industrial stages. “Mining alone is not enough,” he said. “True supply-chain security requires processing, refining, and downstream integration.” He added that Kazakhstan “is not a greenfield jurisdiction,” citing its industrial workforce, established producers, export record, and institutional capacity for long-duration resource projects. Kazykhan also linked the minerals agenda to transport and logistics. He said Kazakhstan has been strengthening access to the Caspian Sea and expanding connectivity through the Trans-Caspian and broader East-West corridors, giving it routes to deliver materials...

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...