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Alatau City

Kazakhstan Signs Alatau City Agreements With $1.3 Billion Investment Potential

Kazakhstan has signed nine agreements with international partners in London to support the development of Alatau City in Almaty Region. The government estimates their combined investment potential at $1.3 billion. The agreements cover infrastructure construction and the development of education and healthcare. The agreements were signed at the Alatau City Investment Roundtable, which launched Kazakhstan’s European investment tour. The delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev. Representatives of more than 70 companies, banks, and investment funds attended the meeting, including JPMorgan Chase, BP, AstraZeneca, and Brookfield Asset Management. Plans under consideration include opening educational institutions in Alatau City with the participation of the University of Exeter, Brighton College, and Repton Group. Cooperation with AstraZeneca and Crescent Meditours covers healthcare projects and scientific exchanges. Discussions on financing energy, transport, and utility infrastructure were held with the London Stock Exchange, Société Générale, J.P. Morgan, Brookfield, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Alatau City has a special legal regime established by a constitutional law dated May 8, 2026, which allows principles of the law of England and Wales to be applied to certain legal relationships. Meetings with international law firms addressed the establishment of an investment court, international arbitration, public-private partnerships, and digital asset regulation. Alatau is located near Almaty, along transport routes connecting Kazakhstan and China. The project envisions the development of industrial, logistics, business, and residential districts. According to the government, the city’s investment portfolio includes 67 projects worth approximately $6.9 billion, with an estimated 55,000 jobs to be created. Another 28 engineering and transport infrastructure projects, valued at 35.3 billion tenge, cover the construction of roads and electricity, gas, and water supply networks. Following the London meetings, the Kazakh delegation will continue its investment discussions in Germany. Alatau City was also presented to American investors at Kazakhstan Finance Day in New York. Discussions there focused on the city’s special legal regime, financial instruments, and private capital participation in its development.

Saiga

Prince William Praises Kazakhstan’s Saiga Recovery

Britain’s Prince William has highlighted Kazakhstan’s success in restoring its saiga antelope population, crediting government support for the animal’s recovery during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show. Asked about the distinctive antelope and the Altyn Dala conservation initiative, William said the species had recovered from critically endangered status to large numbers. Kazakhstan’s government had recognized the animal’s importance to the country and to conservation, he said: “They threw their full weight behind it.” Video: The Graham Norton Show / So Television / BBC The exchange came during an Earthshot Prize edition of the BBC chat show broadcast on October 23, with a photograph of a saiga displayed in the studio. William appeared alongside actors Cate Blanchett and Hannah Waddingham and conservationist Robert Irwin. Altyn Dala won the 2024 Earthshot Prize in the Protect and Restore Nature category, receiving £1 million to support its work. The initiative helps restore Kazakhstan’s vast steppe ecosystems, with the saiga’s recovery among its most prominent achievements. In an October 2025 update, Earthshot said Altyn Dala had helped the saiga population grow from around 40,000 to more than four million over two decades. The recovery followed a steep decline caused by poaching and disease. The initiative brings together Kazakhstan’s government and the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, with international conservation partners. Its work includes tracking saiga movements to help protect breeding and feeding grounds. Altyn Dala has also helped return endangered Przewalski’s horses to Kazakhstan, extending its restoration work beyond the antelope that drew attention on Norton’s sofa. Separately, King Charles III sent President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev a congratulatory telegram for Kazakhstan’s Republic Day, according to an October 25 statement from Akorda. The king praised the friendship between the two countries and reaffirmed his commitment to expanding bilateral cooperation.

Bilateral Relations

Tokayev and UK Trade Minister Discuss Investment, Energy and AI Cooperation

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with UK Minister of State for Trade Lord Anas Sarwar in Astana on October 7 to discuss cooperation in energy, transport and logistics, digitalization and artificial intelligence. Tokayev said the United Kingdom remains one of Kazakhstan’s leading trade and investment partners. Bilateral trade rose by 83% in 2025 to more than $1.6 billion, according to the Kazakh presidency. More than 500 British companies operate in the country. The commercial relationship has long been anchored partly in energy. British energy major Shell holds stakes in the Karachaganak and Kashagan projects, and in March signed a new exploration contract in Kazakhstan’s Aktobe region. “Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom are connected by constructive political dialogue and active engagement at various levels,” Tokayev said, adding that there was significant scope to expand cooperation further. The talks come several months after Kazakhstan ratified a Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the United Kingdom covering trade, investment, energy, critical minerals, education and other areas. The agreement was originally signed in Astana in 2024. Sarwar welcomed the development of the strategic partnership and thanked Tokayev for supporting British business projects and creating a favorable investment climate. “We are following Kazakhstan’s dynamic development with great interest and highly value the similarity of our approaches to key issues on the international agenda,” Sarwar said. He said Britain wanted its partnership with Kazakhstan to deliver concrete results, citing innovation and free trade as shared priorities. Critical minerals have emerged as one area of more practical cooperation. At the inaugural CA5+UK ministerial meeting in London in February, Kazakhstan and Britain agreed on a critical minerals roadmap through 2027. Existing cooperation includes a rhenium project involving Kazakhstan’s Zhezkazganredmet and British company Maritime House. The October 7 presidential readout did not announce any new agreements or investment commitments. The two sides also discussed academic exchanges and joint educational initiatives. British universities have established a growing presence in Kazakhstan, including Cardiff University’s campus in Astana, which opened in September 2025 as the university’s first overseas branch campus. Tokayev encouraged young Kazakhs to study foreign languages, particularly English. “Developing trade and economic ties requires not only new projects and investment, but also people capable of working confidently in an international environment,” Tokayev said. Tokayev also invited British Prime Minister Andy Burnham to visit Kazakhstan.

Migration

Lithuania Closures Highlight Limits of Central Asia’s Migration Shift Away From Russia

Lithuania will close external service provider centers that accept migration documents in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan on November 1. A day before the announcement, Lithuania’s Migration Department said external service centers in Central Asia had stopped accepting new applications from residents seeking to come to the country for work after receiving a very high volume of employment applications. Lithuania had also exhausted its annual quota for foreign workers earlier in September. Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said the November 1 closures were prompted by security risks and the threat of terrorism. The centers act as intermediaries, accepting applications for Lithuanian residence permits and initiating migration procedures Lithuania’s State Security Department has previously reported identifying individual members of the Central Asian community with radical views or links to terrorism. In its annual threat assessment, the agency also said that Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, has been recruiting followers within Central Asian diaspora communities in Europe. However, the agency said it considers it unlikely that Lithuania itself will become a direct target for Islamist terrorists in the near term. The security decision comes as Lithuania has also reached its annual foreign-worker quota. The country set a quota of 24,706 foreign workers for 2026, which was officially declared exhausted on September 7. Once the quota is reached, a temporary residence permit based on employment remains available if the worker meets a higher salary threshold or belongs to certain high-value professions that are in shortage and meets the separate salary requirement for those professions. As of September 1, nearly 227,000 foreign nationals held valid residence permits in Lithuania. They included around 13,000 Uzbek citizens and 7,400 Tajik citizens. Demand for Lithuania has grown alongside broader interest in the European labor market. Between 2018 and 2024, the number of valid EU work permits held by Uzbek citizens increased roughly eightfold, those held by Kyrgyz citizens more than sevenfold, and those held by Tajik citizens more than fourteenfold. Poland has become one of the main destinations, Germany is expanding organized recruitment, and the UK has become an important source of seasonal work, while labor mobility programs are also emerging elsewhere in Europe. Conditions are also changing in Russia, which for decades has absorbed most of the region’s labor migrants. Following the March 2024 Crocus City Hall terrorist attack, the authorities tightened migration rules, expanded registration requirements, and introduced greater digital monitoring of foreign workers. In the first half of 2026, citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan made around 1.9 million entries into Russia declaring work as the purpose of their trip, down from more than 2.3 million a year earlier. The decline does not mean that there is no longer dependence on the Russian labor market. In the first quarter of 2026, Russia accounted for 72.4% of cross-border remittances to Uzbekistan. In Kyrgyzstan, a March 2025 estimate put the number of citizens living abroad at roughly 600,000; around 380,000 were registered with Russian migration authorities at the end of 2024. For Central Asian migrants, European migration...

Educational Investment

Coventry Expands in Kazakhstan, Strengthening Central Asia’s International Education Center

Coventry University Kazakhstan marked the next stage of its expansion on September 21 with a capsule-laying ceremony for new facilities in Astana, adding to a growing network of British educational institutions operating in the country. Lord John Alderdice, the United Kingdom’s Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan and Central Asia, said the project represented more than the construction of another university building. “Today we are not simply marking the construction of a new building. We are investing in people, in knowledge, and in the future of Kazakhstan.” [caption id="attachment_56593" align="alignnone" width="300"] Lord John Alderdice, the UK Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan and Central Asia, speaks at the capsule-laying ceremony for Coventry University Kazakhstan’s new campus in Astana. Image: Coventry University Kazakhstan[/caption] Alderdice has served as the UK’s Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan and Central Asia since January 2025. He is also a member of the House of Lords and previously served as Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Coventry University Kazakhstan has grown rapidly since opening in September 2024. Alderdice said its first intake numbered 95 students. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education now reports more than 850 students. Alderdice said applications were coming from neighboring countries as well as Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan’s Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sayasat Nurbek, placed Coventry’s development within the country’s broader effort to invest in human capital and build skills relevant to Kazakhstan and the wider Central Asian region. Pointing to Kazakhstan’s natural resources, critical minerals, nuclear energy and agriculture, Nurbek emphasized that realizing their economic potential depends on developing the people and expertise needed to create greater value from them. [caption id="attachment_56594" align="alignnone" width="300"] Kazakhstan’s Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sayasat Nurbek, speaks at the capsule-laying ceremony for Coventry University Kazakhstan’s new campus in Astana. Image: Coventry University Kazakhstan[/caption] The expansion comes as Kazakhstan develops an increasingly international education sector, bringing foreign universities and schools into the country while seeking to attract students from across Central Asia. Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Alibek Bakayev, placed Coventry’s expansion within the broader development of educational ties between Kazakhstan and Britain, linking it to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s emphasis on education. Bakayev explained that President Tokayev has made it clear that education is the foundation of the national economy and the country’s future, and that Kazakhstan must not only learn from the world but also bring the world’s best knowledge and practices to the country. He cited Coventry, Cardiff, De Montfort and Heriot-Watt universities, together with Ardingly and Charterhouse, as part of a growing education bridge between the two countries. The growing international education presence is also extending Kazakhstan’s reach beyond its domestic market. Coventry’s applications from neighboring countries provide one indication of that regional pull. Education Takes Larger Role in UK-Kazakhstan Relations Bakayev broadened the point to the overall relationship between Astana and London. He described education as one of the foundations of bilateral relations and pointed to the Kazakhstan-UK Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, saying it gives the relationship greater institutional depth across politics, trade, investment,...

World Nomad Games

Tea, Tug-of-War, and Team GB at the World Nomad Games

A British tug-of-war athlete preparing for a nomadic sports festival in Kyrgyzstan sounds like the start of a strange travel documentary. It is also part of the appeal of the World Nomad Games, which return to Kyrgyzstan from August 31 to September 6, 2026, with The Times of Central Asia once again reporting from the ground. Since their launch in 2014, the Games have grown far beyond their roots, turning traditional sports into an international meeting point for athletes, spectators, and cultures that rarely share the same arena. What began as a Kyrgyz initiative has become one of the world’s more unusual sporting gatherings, mixing horseback combat, archery, wrestling, eagle hunting, strength contests, board games, food, music, and craft traditions in a format closer to a living festival than a conventional tournament. For visiting teams, the challenge is not only athletic. It is cultural, physical, and occasionally bewildering in the best possible way, as The Times of Central Asia explored in an interview with Sam Pollard from Team Great Britain. TCA: How did you first become involved with the World Nomad Games, and what drew you to competing there? Sam Pollard: I read Sovietistan: A Journey Through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan by Erika Fatland in my second year at university, in 2023. I already knew I wanted to travel to Central Asia after university because it was completely unknown to me. I like going to places where no one I know has been, and I was excited to experience it for myself and see whether it was a hidden gem. It absolutely turned out to be just that. The book mentioned Kok Boru, or Kokpar, as one of Central Asia’s traditional games. I searched for it on YouTube and found a video of it being played at the World Nomad Games. I thought, what on earth are the World Nomad Games? I did more research, looked at some of the sports, and saw that the Games lined up perfectly with when I was hoping to travel to Central Asia. Initially, we planned to go as spectators, but then I saw that you could apply to participate. Because my friends and I had a tug-of-war background at university, we thought we’d apply, see what happened, and hope for the best. What drew us to competing was the chance to learn about and embrace nomadic culture, which we didn’t really know much about. We are quite open-minded people, so we were excited to learn from different cultures and see what we could take from them. Each “Stan” is completely different, which made the region even more attractive to us. Kyrgyzstan has its beautiful mountains, Uzbekistan has its amazing mosques, Kazakhstan has the great steppes - Mangistau is incredible - and Tajikistan has the Pamir Highway. There was a real draw for us in the unknown. TCA: What was it like being the flagbearer for the UK team at the Kazakhstan Nomad Games in 2024? Sam Pollard: It was undoubtedly the...