Kazakhstan rising

analysis

By SRI ⋅ May 26, 2008 ⋅

Kazakhstan is one of the rising energy powers, with huge reserves of oil and natural gas and also tremendous reserves of uranium, which is often forgotten.

New Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s first official visit to Kazakhstan this week not only showed the importance Russia attributes to Kazakhstan as its number one Central Asian partner, overshadowing Uzbekistan, but also confirmed Kazakhstan’s growing power both regionally and internationally. Once a backwater and primarily a testing ground for Soviet nuclear missiles, Kazakhstan has managed to become one of the new rising powers on a global scale with determined policies under the able leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Kazakhstan is of course one of the rising energy powers, with huge reserves of oil and natural gas and also tremendous reserves of uranium, which is often forgotten.

Already a leading producer of uranium, Kazakhstan plans to dominate the world market by 2010. At the same time it aims to move from just selling raw uranium to exporting processed nuclear fuel.

Kazakhstan has the second-largest reserves of uranium ore in the world, after Australia. Last year it produced more than 6,600 tons. This year, it plans to produce 9,600 tons, and by 2010, 15,000 tons, surpassing any other country in the world.

By Fikret Ertan (Turkish Weekly)