Digital Tenge: Kazakhstan Becomes a Testing Ground for Programmable Money
While developed economies from the Federal Reserve to the European Central Bank, continue to debate the risks of introducing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), Kazakhstan has already moved into large-scale commercial deployment. By early 2026, the volume of the digital tenge in circulation had reached 336.6 billion KZT (about $700...
Central Asia Recalculates as the Iran War Enters a New Phase
Central Asia’s first response to the Iran war was public and urgent. Governments organized evacuations, welcomed a ceasefire, and watched the Strait of Hormuz because the region’s trade routes, fuel costs, and food prices were already under pressure. The next phase looks different. Following the April 12 collapse of U.S.-Iran...
Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Visits Caucasus to Expand Trade and Transit Ties
Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister, Yermek Kosherbayev, conducted a diplomatic tour of the South Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, as part of Astana’s efforts to strengthen trade and economic ties, expand investment cooperation, and develop key transit routes between Central Asia and Europe. Armenia: Trade, Investment, and Digitalization In Yerevan, Kosherbayev held...
Investments, Resources, and Digital Transformation: How Central Asia Can Preserve Its Strategic Balance
Rising global demand for critical resources, the accelerating green transition, and the digitalization of the economy are turning Central Asia from a peripheral region into one of the key arenas of geoeconomic competition. Kazakhstan and its neighbors are increasingly in the focus of the United States, China, the European Union,...
Turkmenistan Opens the Door a Little Wider to Europe
Turkmenistan has historically been a difficult partner to deal with. The Turkmen government’s isolationist policies run counter to deep cooperation with any foreign party, but the Turkmen authorities seem to now perceive that these policies are costing them opportunities and revenue. In one of the latest shifts in foreign policy,...
Moldova Moves to Leave CIS as Post-Soviet Bloc Loses Another Member
Moldova’s parliament approved, in final reading on April 2, the country’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), with 60 deputies voting in favor. President Maia Sandu then promulgated the denunciation decrees, which were published in the Official Journal on April 8 and entered into force, with the Foreign...
Opinion – Kazakhstan’s New Constitution Sends a Key Signal for Global Partners
In a nationwide referendum on March 15, over 87% of voters approved a new constitution for Kazakhstan. It was a significant victory for President Tokayev and his administration, all the more so because voter turnout exceeded 73%. Kazakhstan’s new constitution is a key signal for global partners. It replaces the...
Kazakhstan Gains Weight in China’s Energy System
The newly extended U.S. waiver for Russian oil transit through Kazakhstan and the reported giant onshore hydrocarbon discovery in western Kazakhstan point in different directions, yet they belong in the same analytical frame. One concerns an existing flow that already reaches China through working infrastructure, while the other concerns a...
Arrests, Agreements and the Afghanistan-Pakistan Conflict
Sunkar Podcast
Central Asia and the Troubled Southern Route
