Kazakhstan joins Abraham Accords to upgrade arms deals

The Trump administration’s announcement that Kazakhstan is becoming a member of the Abraham Accords was made with nice fanfare, regardless that the previous Soviet republic has had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992. It’s because the transfer relies on clear US pursuits and upgrading Kazakhstan’s standing, whereas Israeli pursuits play a secondary function.

Safety relations between Israel and Kazakhstan started in 2001. Since then, the Kazakhs have procured a variety of weapons from Israel’s protection industries, together with rocket techniques and drones from Elbit, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Rafael. The end result of cooperation was in 2007-2009, underneath first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Nevertheless, the flexibility of Israeli protection producers to promote their wares in Kazakhstan has been restricted, regardless that the Asia-Pacific area bought 48% of Israel’s protection exports in 2023 and 23% in 2024. The rationale for that is Kazakhstan’s classification stage, which is affected by the safety settlement between the international locations, which the Kazakhs are serious about upgrading.

Oil, uranium and uncommon components: Why everyone seems to be serious about Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is among the world’s main producers of gold, uranium, and uncommon components – strategic assets that entice many powers to take a position and strengthen ties with the nation.

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev changed Nazarbayev in 2019 and has been main a very completely different coverage. Tokayev determined to make the most of the nation’s strategic belongings, comparable to its giant oil and gasoline assets, in addition to its location and huge territory (the nation is the tenth largest in geographical measurement on the planet), so as to flirt with international locations, together with China and Turkey. The US, in fact, is attempting to maintain the Kazakhs away from this course.

Turkish satisfaction

Just like the US and Israel, China can also be serious about strengthening ties with Kazakhstan, and this time due to its territory – which Beijing makes use of to move items by prepare west to Europe. Oil will not be a part of the story: Kazakhstan is the supply of solely about 3% of Chinese language oil imports, whereas Iran accounts for about 13%.

The connection to Turkey stems from Tokayev’s want to emphasize Kazakh nationalism and scale back Russian affect. Kazakhs are a Turkic folks, just like Azeris, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz, and due to this fact it is a strategy to improve the connection to native heritage. It is a win-win state of affairs on the Kazakh-Turkish stage, because it additionally aligns with the pursuits of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The latter not solely sees himself because the successor to the Ottoman Empire and because the chief of the Muslim world, but in addition because the chief of the Turkic world. Due to this fact, Ankara has clearly avoided criticizing Kazakhstan becoming a member of the Abraham Accords.

It is a very completely different step from the institution of recent full diplomatic relations between the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco and Israel, however it’s nonetheless opposite to Erdogan’s pursuits – and never solely within the context of the Center East and Gaza. Like all Turkic international locations, Kazakhstan is a transparent advertising goal for Ankara’s protection industries, and its tightening of safety ties with Israel may harm their market share.

One nation that was taken without warning by the announcement of Kazakhstan becoming a member of the Abraham Accords was its Caspian Sea neighbor, Azerbaijan, which was assured that it might be the primary nation within the Eurasian area to affix the Abraham Accords. Baku purchases many superior weapons from each Israel and Turkey and desires to take pleasure in a “bridge” to American protection industries.

Jihadists on the border

A senior protection business official notes that within the wake of the battle, which has seen Israeli officers excluded from protection exhibitions and arms offers canceled, together with in Spain, Israel has begun focusing efforts on new markets. International locations like Kazakhstan maintain nice potential, partly because of their rising safety wants. For instance, the space between Kazakhstan and Afghanistan is barely about 500 kilometers and it’s about 100 kilometers from Tajikistan. These two international locations function a spotlight for jihadist exercise, a proven fact that makes Kazakhstan a delicate safety goal.

One other strategic web site in Kazakhstan, recognized to Israel, is the Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport within the south of the nation. Previously, Israel has used the ability to launch satellites into house, together with the Amos 4 satellite tv for pc in 2013. Lately, Israel has switched to launching its satellites from the US, primarily via Elon Musk’s SpaceX, – as occurred final July with the launch of the Dror 1 communications satellite tv for pc utilizing the corporate’s Falcon 9 rocket. Nevertheless, a supply conversant in the main points tells Globes: “The price of launching from Baikonur is considerably decrease than launching from the US – generally as much as half or perhaps a third of the value.”

Revealed by Globes, Israel enterprise information – en.globes.co.il – on November 10, 2025.

© Copyright of Globes Writer Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.