Kyrgyzstan and UK Sign Memorandum on Critical Minerals During London Visit

During the official visit of the Kyrgyz delegation to the United Kingdom — led by Nurbek Tashbekov, Head of the Political and Economic Research Department of the Presidential Administration — the governments of Kyrgyzstan and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed a Memorandum of Understanding on critical minerals.

The meeting took place in London as part of the Resources of Tomorrow 2025 forum, organized as part of the annual Mining Week. Stephen Doughty, British Minister of State for Europe, North America, and Overseas Territories, also participated in the talks.

The document provides for joint geological exploration of strategic mineral reserves in Kyrgyzstan, the introduction of high environmental, social, and governance standards in the development of deposits, and the further development of business contacts and exchange of experience.

The memorandum opens a new platform for deepening Kyrgyz-British cooperation, expanding economic partnership, and attracting foreign investment in the mining sector.

In recent years, global demand for so-called “critical minerals” — rare earth elements, lithium, antimony, cobalt, tungsten, and others — has skyrocketed. These resources are essential for the production of electric vehicles, batteries, telecommunications, green energy, high technology, and the defense industry.

Western countries — including the US, the UK, and the European Union — are actively seeking reliable partners to diversify their supply chains and reduce their dependence on China, which has historically controlled most of the extraction and processing of such resources.

In this context, Central Asia — and Kyrgyzstan in particular — is seen as a potential region capable of supplying Western markets with critically important raw materials. According to estimates, Kyrgyzstan's reserves include mineral deposits that may be on the list of strategically important ones.

In May of this year, Akchabar reported that a Kyrgyz-Chinese rare metals company had been registered in the republic. The main activity of the new legal entity is listed as the extraction and enrichment of precious metal ores.