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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...

CA5+UK

Opinion: UK’s C6 Engagement and the Opportunity for British Geostrategic Renewal

Along with Nicholas Spykman, Sir Halford Mackinder is one of the most pre-eminent thinkers in the field of geopolitics. Whilst today geopolitics is a term used interchangeably with “world affairs,” “international relations,” and “foreign policy,” Spykman and Mackinder used the phrase to describe the narrow academic study of how geography influences international relations and the conduct of states. In the 1904 paper, The Geographical Pivot of History, Mackinder theorized that the key to controlling the balance of power in the world rested in a “heartland” of Eurasia, comprising Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Mackinder described the heartland region as the “pivot region” for regional and global hegemony. The word “pivot” has recently been popularized in international relations, with examples including President Obama’s pivot to the Pacific and Britain’s Indo-Pacific pivot in the 2021 Integrated Review. In 1997, former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski built on Mackinder’s ideas in his work, The Grand Chessboard. Brzezinski defined a geopolitical pivot as being “determined by their geography, which in some cases gives them a special role either in defining access to important areas or in denying resources to a significant player. In some cases, a geopolitical pivot may act as a defensive shield for a vital state or even a region.” To Mackinder and Brzezinski, Central Asia was a crucial geostrategic pivot. Central Asia - comprising the five states of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan, collectively termed the C5 - is located between China, Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan. Thus, the near abroad of the region is defined by conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Iran and Israel/U.S., and between Taliban-run Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pragmatic engagement is a necessity for the C5 but has not stopped them from pursuing greater diversification in security and economic arrangements, and they remain committed to U.S.-led diplomatic initiatives. Faced with a regionally assertive superpower in China, risks created by Russia’s war in Ukraine, theocratic Iran, and the Taliban in Afghanistan, Central Asia has continued to show its desire to build and deepen its economic and security partnerships from beyond traditional powers – such as China and Russia – to states in the Gulf, the Caucasus, Western Europe, and elsewhere. The United Kingdom has emerged as a new and important partner. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised concerns in the Central Asian states about its regional revisionism, territorial ambitions, and Putin’s reconstruction of the Soviet Union. In 2014, Putin credited Nursultan Nazarbayev with having “created a state in a territory that had never had a state before,” adding that “the Kazakhs never had any statehood.” The remarks sparked anger in Kazakhstan and fed concern about Moscow’s view of post-Soviet sovereignty. Finally, Putin said that it would be best for Kazakhstan to “remain in the greater Russian world.” In The Grand Chessboard, Brzezinski predicted that “Russia without Ukraine can still strive for imperial status, but it would then become a predominantly Asian imperial state, more likely to be drawn into debilitating conflicts with aroused Central Asians.” Central Asia has been a...

Strategic Partnership

Britain Expands Central Asia Ties as Kazakhstan Ratifies Strategic Partnership Deal

Last week, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a law ratifying a strategic partnership and cooperation agreement with the United Kingdom. With that move, Central Asia’s largest economy added Britain to its growing list of strategic partners, reinforcing Astana’s long-standing multi-vector foreign policy. For London, meanwhile, the agreement marked another milestone in what some analysts have framed as a renewed contest for influence in Central Asia, an area where Britain has sought to strengthen its position over the past five years. Kazakhstan already counts Russia, China, the United States, several European Union states including Italy, Germany, France, and the Netherlands, as well as Turkey, Azerbaijan and its Central Asian neighbors among its strategic partners. Britain has now joined that group as it seeks to revive its historical influence in the region. That broader contest is often described through the language of a “New Great Game,” a phrase that draws on an older imperial rivalry. The term “Great Game” emerged in the 19th century to describe the geopolitical rivalry between the British and Russian Empires across Central and South Asia. The phrase was popularized by British officer, spy, and diplomat Arthur Conolly, who compared the complex web of political intrigues to a vast strategic board game stretching across half a continent. Since 2022, observers say London has intensified its engagement in this geopolitical competition, aimed partly at limiting Russian and Chinese dominance in Central Asia. At stake are key sectors such as critical minerals, including rare earths, as well as logistics corridors, particularly the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor. In December 2023, the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee published a report titled Countries at the Crossroads: UK Engagement in Central Asia. The report criticized what it described as ineffective engagement by British ministers with the governments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. One of the report’s central recommendations was that London should more actively counter Russian influence in the region. In recent years, British embassies across Central Asia have established offices linked to the UK’s international development structures, expanding engagement with local civil society groups. Through the British Council, London has also expanded its soft power initiatives, financing programs such as Creative Central Asia and Creative Spark. More than 60 universities have joined these programs, with participation exceeding 65,000 people. Britain also continues to operate the Chevening scholarship program, under which young political and public sector figures from Central Asia study in the UK before often returning to influential positions in their home countries. For Kazakhstan’s ambitious younger generation, Britain’s appeal may also be reinforced by symbolic success stories. On May 8, the same day Tokayev signed the strategic partnership into law, Kazakhstan-born Sanjar Abishev was elected to Westminster City Council, representing London’s prestigious St James’s district. Abishev’s election drew attention in Kazakhstan as a symbolic example of the country’s growing diaspora presence in Britain. Little is publicly known about Abishev, though one detail stands out: he entered politics only in 2022 after previously running a...