When Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991, its vast resource base was both its blessing and its constraint. The country quickly became a global leader in raw material exports – oil, uranium, and metals – but the reliance on extraction limited the diversification of its economy. Today, that picture is changing. Kazakhstan is repositioning itself from a supplier of raw materials into a hub for value-added industrial production linked to the green transition and global critical-minerals supply chains.
The shift was on full display at the Kazakhstan Global Investment Roundtable (KGIR) in Astana, where more than 1,000 participants – including policymakers, investors, and executives from 55 countries – gathered to discuss the country’s economic trajectory. One of the central sessions focused on critical minerals and the energy transition, signaling where Kazakhstan’s future growth strategy lies.
As the world accelerates toward decarbonization and high-tech manufacturing, critical minerals have become the new oil of the 21st century. In his opening remarks, Minister of Industry and Construction Yersayin Nagaspayev outlined how Kazakhstan’s geology provides a foundation for this transformation. The country holds among the world’s largest reserves of tungsten, uranium, and chromite, and remains a top producer of manganese, silver, and tin, all materials vital for renewable energy and advanced manufacturing.
In 2024, Kazakhstan’s mining and metallurgical sector accounted for 8% of GDP, generating $29 billion in output and $21 billion in exports. With $3.6 billion invested last year and five new projects worth over $6 billion now in development, the sector is transitioning from extraction to industrial processing. Plans to expand copper smelting, rare-earth separation, and battery-materials production are central to that shift.
But the real story lies in how Kazakhstan is building a value chain around it. This means investing in refining, processing, and logistics capacity to transform raw ores into intermediate and high-value industrial products. As Iran’s Fakoor Sanat Tehran Engineering CEO Mohammad Vahid Sheikhzadeh Najjar noted, the global market for critical minerals, now worth $328 billion, is expected to double by 2032, and Kazakhstan’s potential places it “at the forefront of this global growth.” The country is also turning environmental liabilities into assets: innovative projects are now targeting 55 billion tons of mining waste for reprocessing, converting low-grade ores and tailings into usable resources.
Energy transition and cleaner logistics
Beyond minerals, Kazakhstan is integrating its energy and transport policies into the same modernization drive. Zhang Jing Tao, president of Chengdu Sepmem Energy, proposed building liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Kazakhstan — describing LNG as a “bridge fuel” that can reduce emissions from heavy transport while enabling a gradual transition to renewables. LNG-powered trucks, he said, can travel 1,500 kilometers per refueling, cut nitrogen oxides by 80%, and lower fuel costs by about 40%. Kazakhstan’s natural gas reserves and geographic position between major Asian and European markets make it well suited to develop a domestic LNG industry that supports cleaner transport corridors such as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor.
Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov emphasized at the Roundtable that the Middle Corridor is becoming an investment frontier in itself, not only for Kazakhstan but for Eurasia. Linking China to Europe across the Caspian Sea, it offers a faster and more secure route for energy, minerals, and goods. Several major infrastructure projects are already under way along this corridor with the participation of foreign investors and international financial institutions. Together with its resource strategy, this transport corridor forms part of a wider effort to make Kazakhstan a linchpin in sustainable industrial supply chains.
Institutional reforms and investor confidence
Behind the economic data lies a decade-long effort to make Kazakhstan’s business environment more predictable, transparent, and globally competitive. The government has introduced Investment Agreements providing legislative stability for up to 25 years on large projects exceeding $60 million. It has also reformed its regulatory system, modernized procurement procedures, and enhanced judicial independence to strengthen investor protection.
These institutional reforms have not gone unnoticed. Moody’s recently upgraded Kazakhstan’s long-term credit rating to its highest level in the country’s history, citing macroeconomic resilience and policy predictability. In the first nine months of 2025, GDP grew 6.3%, while investment in fixed capital rose 13.5% to $44 billion.
Kazakhstan also hosts the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), a unique platform governed by English common law, offering tax exemptions until 2066, simplified labor rules, and digital arbitration mechanisms. Ranked first in Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the Global Financial Centres Index, the AIFC has become a bridge between Western capital and Eurasian markets. Over 4,200 companies from 80 countries, including more than 60 American firms, are registered there.
The U.S.–Kazakhstan partnership
In this regard, the United States has long been one of Kazakhstan’s principal economic partners. Since independence, U.S. investment has exceeded $60 billion, accounting for 13% of total FDI in Kazakhstan. More than 630 American companies currently operate in the country, attracted by its stability, market scale, and access to regional supply chains. Bilateral trade reached $4 billion in 2023, and 80% of all U.S. investment in Central Asia goes to Kazakhstan.
Altogether, ten joint U.S.–Kazakh investment projects worth $538 million have been completed, while another nine worth nearly $6 billion are under implementation, and fifteen more totaling $2.5 billion are in development.
The logic behind Kazakhstan’s industrial shift is not only economic. In a world reshaping around energy security, green transition, and supply-chain resilience, Kazakhstan occupies a middle ground: resource-rich yet reform-oriented, connected to both Asia and Europe, and committed to global economic rules. The $7.5 billion in agreements signed at this year’s KGIR show that investors are taking notice.
For international investors, the message from Astana is clear. The country’s strategy now is to move up the value chain, producing refined metals, battery components, and clean-energy technologies within its borders. If successful, this approach could redefine Kazakhstan’s role in the global economy: from supplier to strategic enabler of the green-industrial transition.