Energy and Economy 

Azerbaijani Exports to Armenia Exceed $17 million 

According to Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee, Azerbaijani exports to Armenia totaled $17.32 million in January–July 2026, while Azerbaijan’s indirect imports from Armenia amounted to just $960 during the same period. In the spirit of the White House peace summit, the two countries have taken steps to expand bilateral trade, including Azerbaijan’s decision to lift transit restrictions on goods traveling to and from Armenia. Amid ongoing challenges affecting petroleum product imports and exports, Azerbaijan has also supplied Armenia with petrol and diesel fuel, underscoring the emerging economic cooperation between the two countries. 

Source: Trend News Agency, Interfax 

Tajikistan and South Korea Meet to Plan Cooperation on Critical Minerals 

Representatives from the two countries met in Seoul, South Korea, on August 12 to discuss avenues to enhance bilateral minerals cooperation. Tajikistan presented its raw materials potential while South Korea stressed its history of supply-chain development and its interest in new projects in Tajikistan. The delegations included officials from each country’s trade ministry, officials in industry, the Korean Export-Import (Exim) bank, and Korean geological experts. Representatives from private companies of both countries also held bilateral discussions after the forum, during which the Tajikistan Aluminum Company (TALCO) Gold and South Korean company GB Innovation (GBI) explored the creation of a tungsten supply chain. 

Source: Asia Plus 

Azerbaijan Exports: Not Just Oil 

Although Azerbaijan is known for its energy exports, pomegranates and pomegranate products are slowly becoming the country’s fastest-growing non-oil export, having totaled nearly $56 million last year.  With this development, Azerbaijan is putting itself in direct competition with other pomegranate producers like Iran, Türkiye, and Spain. With the ability to cultivate around 200 varieties, Azerbaijani producers attribute their export success to a mix of indigenous strains, EU-compatible phytosanitary standards, and proximity to European and Gulf markets.  

Source: Euronews 

Kazakhstan Aims for Summer 2027 Launch of Data Center Valley 

Kazakhstan announced that its first 50-megawatt (MW) data center is expected to be operational by June 2027, as part of its larger plans to create a 1-gigawatt (GW) data center campus. Known as Data Center Valley, project construction is underway in Pavlodar, a city in the country’s northeast, and will include data centers and AI cloud services. U.S. company Firebird AI reached agreements with Kazakhstan companies in June to create the computing facility and implement AI capabilities.  

Source: Times of Central Asia, Official Information Source of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan 

Blackouts Sweep Central Asia Amid Extreme Heat 

Widespread power outages affected residents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan on August 14 amid a summer of extreme heat and record power consumption. Kazakhstan indicated the cause to be the simultaneous failure of two hydropower generators at Kyrgyzstan’s Toktogul Hydropower Plant, while Kyrgyzstan blamed the failure on a high-voltage line in Kazakhstan. This discrepancy mirrors similar disagreements in the wake of a major outage in 2022. Projects to reintegrate Central Asia’s power grid are underway to better address seasonal differences in supply and demand.  

Source: The Times of Central Asia 

Kazakhstan Set to Join South Korea’s Working Visa System 

South Korea has agreed to add Kazakhstan to its Employment Permitting System (EPS) that facilitates the acquisition of E-9 visas for labor migrants. Starting in 2028, Kazakhstan’s labor migrants will be able to apply and enter the country through the EPS system, which generally permits three-year stays to work in South Korean sectors facing labor shortages. The two countries will also work to develop a Korean-language testing center in Almaty, given that Korean-language proficiency is a prerequisite for long-term stays. There are currently over 15,000 people from Kazakhstan working in South Korea, although a majority of them do not have legal status to stay or work.  

Source: Tengri News 

Central Asian Work Entries to Russia Fall by 15 Percent 

The Border Service of Russia’s Federal Security Service recorded 1.9 million work-related entries by citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan for the first half of this year, down from 2.3 million for the same period in 2025. Additionally, children of migrant workers must prove their legal residence and pass a Russian-language aptitude test to enroll in state schools, resulting in thousands of children being separated from their parents. Since September 1, 2025, Russia has required migrants to possess a location-tracking app to help enforce its migration policy, a practice criticized for its intrusiveness. 

Source: The Times of Central Asia 

Kazakhstan Completes Key Step in Trans-Caspian Fiber Optic Cable Project 

Kazakhstan completed a key stage in the Trans-Caspian Fiber-Optic Communication Line on August 5, laying a submarine cable on the Caspian seabed between Aktau, Kazakhstan, and Sumgait, Azerbaijan, to directly link their digital infrastructures. The project is run by Kazakhtelecom and AzerTelecom International through the joint venture CaspiLink B.V. and aims to create an alternative Asia-Europe data route that improves connectivity, network resilience, and both countries' role in Eurasian digital transit. 

Source: The Astana Times 

Azerbaijan Signals Readiness to Supply Gas to Ukraine 

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said during an official visit to Kyiv on August 6  that Azerbaijan is prepared to supply natural gas to Ukraine if needed and is exploring the use of Ukraine’s underground gas storage facilities to strengthen wider regional energy security. Bayramov noted that Azerbaijan currently exports gas to 16 countries, including 12 European states, and said Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, which already has a long-standing presence in Ukraine, plans to expand its activities there. The announcement follows a July 2025 agreement between Ukraine’s Naftogaz and SOCAR Energy Ukraine to transport gas via the Trans-Balkan route. 

Source: Caspian News 

Politics and Security 

President Tokayev to Attend 2026 G20 Summit in Miami  

Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry has confirmed that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has accepted an invitation to attend this year’s G20 summit in Miami, Florida. Kazakhstan is not a member of the G20 but was invited as a guest by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump also invited Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the summit, which is set to take place on December 14-15.  

Source: Astana Times 

U.S. Senate Passes Sanctions Legislation in Honor of Lindsey Graham 

The U.S. Senate has voted 86-11 to pass the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The legislation is designed to grant the U.S. president the right to implement targeted tariffs of up to 100 percent on the top five global buyers of Russian oil and gas. The top purchasers of Russian hydrocarbons are China, India, and Türkiye, while other countries that hover in the top five include Slovakia, Hungary, and Azerbaijan. The full act also targets operators of Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, along with those who supply and facilitate sales for the country’s defense industrial base.  

Source: congress.gov, NBC, Reuters 

Kyrgyzstan and Russia Conclude Center-2026 Military Exercise 

Russian and Kyrgyzstani military forces carried out the Center-2026 joint tactical exercise August 11-17 in Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan. The exercise included about 500 soldiers and over 100 units of military equipment and weapons, including tanks, drones, and helicopters.  

Source: Anadolu Ajansi, Reuters 

Iran Submits Caspian Sea Convention to Parliament for Ratification 

Iran’s government has submitted the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea to parliament for formal ratification, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. Signed by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan in Aktau in 2018, the Convention has already been ratified by the other four Caspian littoral states but requires ratification by all five to enter into force. The Convention establishes a legal framework covering territorial waters, fishing zones, navigation, security, marine resources, and submarine pipelines and cables; and it prohibits the presence of armed forces belonging to non-littoral states on the Caspian Sea. The Iranian cabinet approved the ratification bill on July 22, and the bill has passed its first reading in parliament. 

Source: Caspian News 

Türkiye Joins Joint Security Pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan 

The three states announced on August 7 their entrance into the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, which stipulates that an attack on any member state would be treated as an attack on all members. Their governments affirmed that the agreement is not directed towards a specific state, nor does it conflict with any other security arrangements they are separately part of. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that Türkiye hopes to expand membership to incorporate other countries, citing Egypt as most likely to accede to the agreement next. The defense agreement echoes similar mutual defense protocols of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which consists of the UnitedStates, Canada, and 30 European nations, including Türkiye.  

Sources: Associated Press, Al Jazeera