Central Asia An emerging battlefield for strategic minerals
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The European Union and the United States form a powerful camp, with both interested in tapping Central Asia’s vast potential in critical minerals. Along with the United Kingdom, they have articulated their strategic interest in the region. Recent intra-regional development and the changing attitudes of Central Asian countries towards their mineral wealth will be of benefit in this regard. Unlike in the West, Central Asian governments are enthusiastic about the prospect of turning their vast deposits of REEs and RMs into a new source of revenue for the local economies. Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev went as far as to call these commodities the “new oil”.