Interest in Rare Earths Transforming Central Asia and South Caucasus from Periphery to Center of International System

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 9 – Just as oil transformed the Arab countries from an international backwater to the c of geoeconomics and geopolitics in the 20^th century, so too growing interest in rare earth minerals is now transforming Central Asia and the South Caucasus into the center of international competition and transformation in the 21^st.

            The critical role of rare earths in the world economy and the reserves of many of them in Central Asia and the South Caucasus is attracting ever more attention to these regions and concern there about how to respond so that they don’t simply become raw material suppliers to others (eurasiatoday.ru/redkozemelnaya-revolyutsiya-pochemu-tsa-i-kavkaz-stanovyatsya-novym-tsentrom-mirovoj-sily/).

            Experts and officials across the region are now focusing on how to use the interest of the West and of China in these reserves as the way to transform the economies of their countries so that they will be able to compete at the top level with other states rather than remaining backwaters.

            Both the interest of foreign powers in their rare earth reserves and concerns about how to use that interest to promote development are now fueling regional cooperation efforts in both areas so that the countries are not played off against each other but rather work together to boost their regions, according to an Azerbaijani commentator (minval.az/news/124525157).

            Kazakhstan, which has the largest proved reserves in this part of the world according to the US Geological Survey, has taken the lead, something that will help Astana become a regional leader and also ensure that Central Asia and the South Caucasus in this  area at least will work more closely together than many now expect.