Articles by Muhammad Rafiq

Finance has long been the lifeblood of global trade and commerce, facilitated by infrastructures that channel financial resources into entrepreneurial endeavors. Central Asia has long needed such an organizational structure to unlock its true economic potential. Established in 2018, the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) has filled a critical gap in Central Asia’s financial landscape.…

Rapid progress has been visible in the global Islamic finance market recently. According to S&P Global Ratings Agency’s Islamic Finance Outlook Report, the worldwide volume of Islamic finance reached $2.1 trillion at the beginning of 2019 and is growing at 5% annually. A further boost has been provided by digitization. The 2018 Thomson Reuters Islamic…

The Kazakh capital is hosting the highly anticipated Astana International Forum (AIF) under the aegis of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on June 8-9. The forum’s mission is to promote global cooperation and peace by discussing issues that are currently high on the international agenda, including climate change and advancing security and development. The event will attract…

During the period of the ancient Silk Road, cities like Quetta, Peshawar, Taxila, Multan, and Debal, which are now part of Pakistan, were linked to this legendary trade route, just like cities of Kazakhstan, including Otrar, Taraz, Turkistan, Sairam, and Almaty. Well before the birth of modern Pakistan and Kazakhstan, the All-India Muslim League, under…

The policies of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev demonstrate that he has the ambition to evolve political modernization in Kazakhstan with the balance of power redistributed among the executive, legislative, and judiciary. He aims to strengthen the authority of local and regional government and the participation of people in governance. At the same time, President Tokayev is…

Transport routes run like blood in the veins of an economy. Therefore, an efficient transport system with a geostrategic layout is all the more important for a country like Kazakhstan. The transport system inherited by Kazakhstan since independence in 1991 neither provided access to external markets nor formed a single internal market.  The fragmentation of…

On June 5, the general public heavily voted in favor of the constitutional amendments aimed at political reforms to transform Kazakhstan into a modern state with the balance of power redistributed among the executive, legislative, and judiciary. When these constitutional amendments were endorsed by the Parliament and signed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Sept. 17,…

On becoming President of Kazakhstan in 2019, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev wanted to capitalize on the competitive advantage of his motherland being a global investment hub. He reflects in his most recent speech in Karaganda: “We remain attractive to foreign investors. Kazakhstan is widely known as responsible in international affairs and a dynamically developing country, aimed at…

Kazakhstan has emerged as the biggest success story in the region, since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. Transitioning from a central command economy to a market system has been an epic advancement. The salient feature of the economic development achieved by Kazakhstan is its economic resilience. The ability to recover quickly from…

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Corridor, generally referred as CKU, is expected to start in 2023 after completion of feasibility study this year. The project was dormant since 1997. However, amid shifting supply chains in the wake of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, the CKU has been revitalized. Therefore, all three parties to the project…

A land-locked country has a geographical limitation of not having its territory connected to the ocean. Kazakhstan is the largest land-locked country in the world that has the most distant spot from the oceans. Kazakhstan is among 48 countries that are deprived of access to the sea. Nearly 90 percent of world trade is carried…

When Kazakhstan declared its independence in 1991, the country’s policy makers realized the vital importance of a vibrant investment policy as a driver of sustainable economic growth. As a result, the country was able to attract nearly $320 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) over a duration of three decades. Kazakhstan accounts for 70 percent…

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has triggered some major shifts in the supply chains of West Europe, Eurasia, Central Asia, Caucasus and South Asia. This shuffle of the supply chain has considerable impact on global trade and commerce. Kazakhstan has its gifted landscape with an extensive network of rail, road, air and marine corridors and can transcend…