Announced on Thursday, the 6th of November, Kazakhstan was said to have joined the Abraham Accords, United States President Donald Trump’s first administration initiative. Trump posted on the platform, Truth Social, that he had a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, where the Kazakh president agreed to join the Accords. Trump continued by saying that “there are many more countries trying to join this club of strength”, and that Kazakhstan was the “first of many” to join during his second term. He further mentioned that Kazakhstan’s decision to join is “a major step forward in building bridges across the World” and said “more Nations are lining up to embrace Peace and Prosperity through my Abraham Accords.” This announcement came in the midst of the Central Asian Summit in Washington, where the U.S. is seeking to gain a foothold in a region long dominated by Russian influence. During the summit, Trump met with Tokayev and four other Central Asian leaders from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The Abraham Accords are a series of diplomatic deals between Israel and several Muslim-majority countries that began in 2020, under the first Trump administration. Kazakhstan is the first country outside of the Arab world and the Middle East to sign the Accords. The signing of these accords allowed and promoted trade, travel, and political diplomacy between the Muslim-majority countries and Israel, acts which were not allowed or legitimized prior to the 2020 Accords.

Why would Kazakhstan be interested in joining these deals? Kazakhstan, a country geographically located between Russia and China, is seen by some political analysts to desire distance from Russian and Iranian influence and be angling for U.S. and Israeli partnerships. However, the country has held diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992, which is why other analysts say that while this move is not a great diplomatic breakthrough, it does hold symbolic weight. Some even see it as a “bow to Trump”, as it could be considered a step towards attaining positive attention from Washington to establish stronger economic ties between Kazakhstan and the U.S. A source said that the U.S. hopes this new entry will help “reinvigorate the Abraham Accords,” an expansion that has been on hold since the beginning of Trump’s second presidential term until the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza.

Trump has been hopeful about Saudi Arabia joining the Accords since the ceasefire went into effect last month, but Riyadh has shown no willingness to do so without a pathway to a Palestinian state. However, this outreach move beyond Arab countries might allow the U.S. to expand its deals outside of the region, since other Turkic countries, like Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, have also shown interest in joining the Accords.

It is important to note that these talks take place amid accelerated competition for Central Asia’s vast mineral resources, with Kazakhstan emerging as a strong contender against China’s global dominance in rare earth elements production. These would be crucial in production technology, such as “computers, turbines, and automobiles.” This has attracted both the U.S. and the European Union, which are keen on limiting their reliance on China, due to both powers currently importing the majority of their minerals, with the EU getting as much as 98% of its supplies from other countries.