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The underlying proposition deserves serious consideration: Kazakhstan, Oman and Morocco could help shape a new financial architecture connecting Central Asia, the Gulf and Africa. This is not yet an established global financial axis, supported by integrated capital flows and shared institutions. Rather, it is a strategic possibility whose foundations are gradually taking shape through concrete developments, with implications that extend far beyond bilateral relations among the three countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most significant development is recent. On October 5\u20136, 2026, Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of Oman made the first state visit by an Omani sovereign to Kazakhstan. The visit resulted in five agreements and approximately ten memoranda of understanding covering investment, energy, transport and financial cooperation. Most importantly, the two countries activated an electronic connection between the Muscat Stock Exchange and the Astana International Exchange, allowing investors to access securities on both markets through authorized brokers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This last development is particularly important. A diplomatic declaration expresses an intention; a connection between two financial markets creates an operational opportunity. It does not guarantee substantial transactions or immediate investment, but it removes some barriers to capital mobility and brings two financial ecosystems closer together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The development is even more significant because it is accompanied by a concrete financial instrument. Kazakhstan\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, and the Oman Investment Authority have agreed to establish a joint investment fund worth $150 million, with equal contributions from both sides. The fund is expected to be launched before the end of 2026 within the Astana International Financial Centre. It is intended to finance priority projects in Kazakhstan and Oman. At this stage, the initiative represents a commitment to establish the fund and a planned capitalization, rather than evidence that the entire amount has already been disbursed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Individually, these developments may appear modest when measured against the scale of global finance. Taken together, however, they reveal a clear direction: connecting markets, mobilizing sovereign wealth, bringing institutions closer and establishing bridges between regions whose economic complementarities remain underexploited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first strength of this project lies in Astana\u2019s gradual transformation into a Eurasian financial platform. The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) has announced that investments attracted to Kazakhstan since its establishment exceed $28 billion, while more than 6,600 companies from 90 countries are registered within its ecosystem. These figures illustrate the scale of the platform, but they should not be confused with capital fully invested in productive projects or with financial assets under management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The performance of the Astana International Exchange provides another indicator. In the third quarter of 2026, its trading volume exceeded $1.9 billion, an increase of more than 70% compared with the same period in 2025. Since its establishment, the platform has raised $17.4 billion through debt and equity financing. It has also introduced securities denominated in several currencies, including the US dollar, the Kazakh tenge, the United Arab Emirates dirham and the Chinese renminbi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These figures reveal something more profound than simple stock market growth. Astana is seeking to build an infrastructure capable of connecting different monetary environments and investor groups. Its position between China, Russia, Europe and Central Asia gives it geographical value; its financial ambition is to convert that position into a capacity for economic intermediation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenge is also political. In a world where sanctions, geopolitical tensions and trade rivalries can reshape financing routes, diversifying partners becomes a form of sovereignty. Kazakhstan cannot eliminate its dependence on its major neighbors, but it can expand the range of actors with whom it finances infrastructure, businesses and industrial projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is precisely where closer relations with Oman become strategically significant. The sultanate brings more than capital: it offers access to the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the commercial networks of the Gulf. Its geographical position allows it to serve as a potential link between Eurasian markets and international maritime routes. Energy, logistics and financial cooperation between Muscat and Astana could therefore provide the foundation for transactions extending beyond the bilateral relationship, provided businesses and investors translate these opportunities into concrete operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another development deserves attention: Oman is expected to become the eighth shareholder of the Eurasian Development Bank and its first member from the Gulf region. The terms of its participation were agreed upon during the state visit. This could connect the financing capacity of a Eurasian institution with the economic networks of the Gulf. It does not instantly transform the bank into a global institution, but it broadens its geographical reach and its prospects for cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The timing is favorable. On October 6, the Muscat Stock Exchange was placed on FTSE Russell\u2019s watchlist for a possible reclassification of Oman\u2019s market from frontier to secondary emerging market status. The decision is not guaranteed; the next review is scheduled for April 2027. If the reclassification takes place, it could increase the market\u2019s visibility and facilitate access for certain international investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Astana\u2013Muscat rapprochement therefore rests on more than political declarations. It combines financial instruments, institutions, sovereign wealth funds and prospects for market integration. Its real potential, however, will become apparent only if this infrastructure succeeds in financing businesses, infrastructure and productive activities beyond the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is where Casablanca enters the equation. Not as a third capital artificially added to a Eurasian partnership, but as a potential African gateway for this emerging financial architecture. Morocco has a banking network operating across several African markets, significant port infrastructure and Casablanca Finance City, a platform designed to support companies and investors operating in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The economic relationship between Morocco and Kazakhstan already provides a measurable foundation. In 2025, bilateral trade reached $461.5 million, an increase of 68% compared with 2024. Yet this figure also reveals a weakness: Kazakh exports to Morocco amounted to approximately $434 million, while Moroccan exports to Kazakhstan totaled $27.5 million. Sulfur alone accounted for 90.5% of Kazakh exports to the Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This imbalance is one of the blind spots in the rapprochement. Economic relations are growing, but they do not yet constitute a balanced industrial partnership. For Casablanca to become a genuine African gateway for Astana and Muscat, cooperation must move beyond commodity trade and develop reciprocal investment in agribusiness, fertilizers, logistics, renewable energy, financial services and industrial processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Morocco could provide precisely what is missing from a relationship that remains largely institutional: the ability to identify African projects, understand local risks, mobilize businesses and support their expansion. Moroccan banks operating in Africa could contribute financing and the distribution of financial services, while Casablanca Finance City could facilitate coordination among international investors, consulting firms and regional businesses. This role still needs to be organized with Kazakh and Omani partners; it does not automatically follow from Casablanca\u2019s presence on the map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The model could take the form of a three-stage financing chain. Astana would structure transactions serving Central Asia and Eurasian economies; Muscat would mobilize Gulf investors and facilitate maritime connections; Casablanca would identify African opportunities and support projects across the continent. Capital could move between these regions according to needs and opportunities, without requiring the immediate creation of a joint financial institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such an architecture could finance, for example, an agricultural value chain connecting Kazakh grain production, Moroccan port infrastructure and African markets. It could also support fertilizer production, renewable energy or mineral processing projects by bringing together Gulf capital, industrial companies and regional banks. However, each project would need to demonstrate its commercial viability, repayment guarantees and local benefits. A trade route is not yet a financial corridor; a financial corridor becomes an instrument of development only when it finances sustainable economic activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most serious objection concerns scale. A $150 million joint fund is significant as a starting point for bilateral cooperation, but modest compared with Africa\u2019s infrastructure needs or the volumes handled by major financial centers. The $28 billion in investments announced by the AIFC since its establishment does not represent capital that is entirely available for African projects. Nor does a connection between two stock exchanges mean that the markets concerned are already integrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is therefore essential to resist the temptation to proclaim the birth of a new global financial order too soon. London, New York, Singapore and Dubai have much deeper markets, older international networks and vastly greater financing capacity. Astana, Muscat and Casablanca will not replace them overnight. Their opportunity lies elsewhere: in occupying an intermediary role between economic regions whose financial relationships remain less developed than their geographical and commercial complementarities would suggest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The real test will be measurable results. By 2028, attention should focus on the amount of investment actually disbursed, the number of cross-border projects financed, the share of private capital mobilized, the diversification of trade and the participation of African companies in transactions structured within this emerging space. Without these indicators, the new axis will remain a diplomatic ambition; with them, it could become a measurable economic reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Economic history teaches us that new financial centers do not emerge solely from the wealth of the countries that host them. They develop when they can organize trust, reduce transaction costs, protect investors and connect markets that previously struggled to communicate. Astana is beginning to build this function. Muscat can provide an additional gateway to Gulf capital and Indian Ocean trade routes. Casablanca can contribute institutional, banking and entrepreneurial access to African markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The historical significance of this axis would therefore not lie in the immediate creation of a new global financial power, but in the emergence of an additional channel for capital flows between Eurasia, the Gulf and Africa. As economies seek to diversify their partners, this capacity for financial intermediation could acquire growing geopolitical importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Morocco, the challenge is not to remain a spectator in this transformation. It must propose concrete cooperation mechanisms with Astana and Muscat, mobilize its banks, companies and financial institutions, and make Casablanca more than a commercial stopover: a platform where capital becomes projects, projects become businesses, and businesses contribute to Africa\u2019s economic integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The financial world is not reorganized solely around those who possess the largest amounts of capital. It is also reorganized around those who know how to connect it. It is in this capacity\u2014still to be demonstrated, but now more credible\u2014that the real promise of the Astana\u2013Muscat\u2013Casablanca axis lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
INPS Japan<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Nasrallah Belkhayate Casablanca (INPS Japan\/Atlantica Africa) – It is often the case that major transformations in the global economy begin far from the capitals to which financial markets traditionally pay the most attention. They do not always originate in New York, London, Singapore or Dubai. Sometimes, they take shape in places long regarded as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sdgs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10610"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10616,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10610\/revisions\/10616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}