24% of U.S. uranium imports come from Kazakhstan, President Tokayev says
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who is currently on a working visit to New York, took part in a roundtable discussion with representatives of American businesses, Kazinform News Agency reports citing the press service of Akorda.
The Presiden the need to explore new opportunities in the field of geological exploration, expand existing projects, as well as in uranium mining and processing.
Kazakhstan supplies about 40% of the global uranium market, with approximately 24% of U.S. uranium imports coming from the country.
“In line with U.S. energy priorities, we also promote clean, efficient, and environmentally safe energy solutions based on coal, which accounts for more than 70% of Kazakhstan’s energy generation. We share the U.S. approach that considers coal a reliable and secure energy source - at least in the foreseeable future. Our energy strategy is built on four pillars: oil, gas, coal, and uranium. And we intend to firmly adhere to this principle,” the President stated.
The second priority is raw materials. Tokayev reminded that Kazakhstan possesses significant reserves of copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, lithium, graphite, and other minerals that are increasingly vital to high-tech industries.
“We have successfully created an investor-friendly jurisdiction in the mining sector, supported by transparent and comprehensive legislation. Kazakhstan’s mining industry has already attracted major companies such as Ivanhoe, Rio Tinto, Anglo Teck, and Fortescue,” he said.
The President also noted the vast potential of the transport and logistics sector, with the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) opening up major prospects.
“We highly value Wabtec’s key role in advancing our engineering and railway sectors. In partnership with this company, Kazakhstan is building both physical and intelligent, data-driven integrated transport corridors. Today, we witnessed the signing of a new agreement with Wabtec worth over $4 billion, which will significantly strengthen our cooperation with the United States in the transport sector. Flagship airlines Air Astana and SCAT actively operate Boeing aircraft, which form the backbone of our civil aviation fleet. We are working to expand cooperation with Boeing and hope to receive additional new aircraft in the coming years,” said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
