The United States and European Union have shown increasing interest in Central Asia's critical minerals in recent months. They have also expressed interest in participating in the construction and operation of nuclear power plants to be built in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The US quest for rare earths appears to be intensifying, underscored by a low-key tour by a US congresswoman, Carol Miller, a Republican from West Virginia, who has held meetings with high-profile Central Asian leaders, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.
In a highly unusual protocol twist for a US representative who is not a member of the legislature’s hierarchy, Miller met with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on March 20, three days after holding talks with Uzbek leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Uzbekistan.
There has been scant coverage of the visit. Statements issued by the presidential press services of both countries provided vague summaries of the discussions, but did touch on the topic of mining. Miller’s own website does not even mention she traveled to Central Asia. One March 19 report published by an Uzbek outlet, however, said Miller met with top Uzbek Trade Ministry officials and that Uzbekistan expressed “readiness to more actively develop partnership in key areas such as industry, critical minerals, investment and trade.”
Meanwhile, Russia and China are showing that they’re not about to cede ground willingly to their Western rivals.
Russian officials voiced readiness to help Tajikistan develop its mining sector during Tajik leader Emomali Rahmon’s recent visit to Moscow, the Russian outlet Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported. In addition, Alexei Likhachev, the head of the Russian nuclear energy agency Rosatom, said in a March 17 television interview that Russia and Tajikistan “are building new technological chains in a number of other areas related to energy, instrument making, and possibly rare earth metal mining. Tajikistan is rich in rare earth metals.”
Likhachev also revealed Rosatom was in the “initial stage of negotiations” with Tajik leaders on the construction of a small nuclear power plant in Tajikistan, a country that has already invested vast sums in building the Rogun Dam to meet the country’s electricity needs.
China, which already has a strong position in Central Asia’s mining sector, is also looking to get a piece of the nuclear energy action. Shen Yanfeng, the head of China’s National Nuclear Corporation, paid a visit earlier in March to Kazakhstan, which recently announced an intention to build three nuclear power reactors. During a meeting with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Shen pitched the possibility of Chinese involvement in developing “advanced technologies for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and training Kazakhstani specialists.”
Elsewhere, Azim Akhmedkhadzhayev, the director of Uzbekistan’s nuclear energy agency Uzatom, said in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro that Tashkent will engage French companies in the construction and operation of a nuclear plant on Uzbek soil for “political, financial and technological reasons.” Uzbekistan already has a deal with Rosatom to help develop the country’s nuclear energy potential.
