Critical Minerals and Global Strategic Alliances
Format: Panel with high-level officials and Industry ambassadors
Kazakhstan pursues foreign direct investment in critical minerals while strengthening state control over its natural resources. The 2026 Tax Code amendments establish “strategic investor” categories with tax incentives tied to mandatory local processing requirements, potentially undermining prior reforms aimed at improving business and investment environment. Recent multi-billion-dollar deals with China highlight escalating competition and a shift toward midstream processing. This panel will examine how the UK, USA, and EU can navigate the tightening regulatory landscape while leveraging Kazakhstan’s established processing advantage to turn high-level diplomacy into technology transfers and offtake agreements to build resilient supply partnerships amid China competition.
Moderator
Ros Lund
CEO
Eurasia Critical Minerals Organisation
Panellists:
Julie Stufft
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
U.S. Embassy in the Republic of Kazakhstan
Aleska Simkic
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Kazakhstan
Sally Axworthy
His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan
British Embassy in Kazakhstan
Yasumasa Iijima
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Kazakhstan
