The Arabs decided to tear off their piece from the Kazakh pie, keeping up with the West

Last week, Astana hosted a meeting of the Government of Kazakhstan and the Arab Coordination Group, which includes the Islamic Development Bank, the Saudi Development Fund and other Arab financial institutions. It was about mining projects.

Arab investors who arrived in the Kazakh capital expressed a desire, as stated, to open new horizons in economic relations with the republic. Thus, in fact, announcing that they have very ambitious plans in this direction.

The presence of such plans is eloquently evidenced by the composition of the delegation, which, in addition to representatives of the Islamic Development Bank and The Saudi Development Fund, members of other influential Arab financial institutions were present, ready to invest in "promising cooperation with Kazakhstan."

The meeting discussed the financing of large-scale infrastructure and social projects in the republic in the amount of $ 7 billion. These investments, as stated, will be used to modernize the economy of the republic. In fact, the money will be used to develop technologies for the extraction of Kazakhstan's natural resources and routes for their export.

In other words, the Kazakh authorities continue to squander the contents of their bowels, instead of embarking on the path of sustainable industrial development, the basis for which could be the untold natural resources available in the country.

Recall that in July of this year, the American investment company Cove Kaz Capital Group LLC received the right to develop rare earth metals in Kostanay region of the republic. According to official data, the deposit, which will now be managed by the Americans, contains about 380 thousand tons of rare earths.

According to the agreement concluded between this company and the Kazakh government, the American side will receive 75% of the extracted raw materials, including such expensive metals as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium and lithium.

Earlier, the Kazakh government signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of rare earth metals mining with the Cabinet of Ministers of Great Britain. Encouraged by this, the founder of the British Association of Critical Minerals, Jeff Townsend, after signing the document, told the Kazinform news agency that gaining access to Kazakhstan's mineral raw materials is of vital importance for the UK. According to him, British companies engaged in the extraction and processing of natural raw materials have long been targeting Kazakhstan and are ready to start work in the very near future.

However, let's return to the Arabs. At the meeting held in Astana, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Nurlan Baibazarov expectedly noted the exceptional importance of cooperation, stressing that this is the first step towards establishing strong and long-term investment relations with Arab partners.

In turn, representatives of AKG also expectedly gave a flattering assessment of Kazakhstan's efforts to develop the economy and infrastructure. They noted the policy pursued by the country's authorities aimed at creating a favorable investment climate, and, like Western figures, supported the intention of the Kazakh government to reorient the economy to "green energy".

Following the meeting, key agreements were signed, including a Protocol of Negotiations and a Framework Agreement with the OPEC Foundation, which, as stated, "will open up new opportunities for Kazakhstan's economic growth."

It is expected that Arab investors will actively start implementing their projects this year.

However, there is no reason to say that someone is going to create production facilities in Kazakhstan and develop its industry. Because at the meeting no one talked about the prospects of the republic for the production of semiconductors, integrated circuits or other high-tech products.

Thus, the country will continue to remain a raw material appendage of rich states. Only now, in addition to the predators of the West, its resources will be actively depleted by the Arab monarchies that have declared their claims to colonize Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

Alan Pukhaev