Trade fairs are useful for seeing technologies. They become more interesting when they help us understand where a market is actually moving.
From 16 to 18 September 2026, Mining & Metals Central Asia (miningworld.kz/en) brought the mining and metallurgical industry together in Almaty. This year’s event attracted 533 companies from 30 countries and more than 7,000 industry professionals. Germany alone was represented by 43 companies in the German Pavilion.
For AETEK, however, the most relevant part of the exhibition was not its size. It was the opportunity to compare what we had been observing from Germany with what was happening directly on the ground. In the weeks before the exhibition, we had systematically analysed participating companies, technologies and potential points of connection with industrial developments in Kazakhstan and the wider Central Asian region. During all three exhibition days, Mr. A. Kair supported AETEK locally in Almaty, meeting companies, discussing their regional activities and testing where genuine interest in further market development existed. The conversations produced new contacts, follow-up opportunities and, perhaps more importantly, a clearer picture of what European industrial companies are looking for in the region. Several discussions quickly moved beyond products. Companies wanted to understand where concrete projects exist, how potential customers can be identified, who the relevant decision-makers are and whether initial contacts can be developed into a real commercial pipeline. This distinction matters.
A trade fair can create visibility and introductions. But entering a market requires continuity after the exhibition: qualifying demand, understanding projects, identifying stakeholders and staying involved long enough to turn an initial conversation into a business opportunity. The three days in Almaty also reinforced another observation. Central Asia’s industrial story is becoming broader. Mining remains fundamental, but the discussion increasingly extends into processing, infrastructure, equipment modernisation, local production, technology cooperation and the development of more complete industrial value chains. The official programme itself reflected this transition, covering topics from critical minerals to processing technologies and digital mining.
For AETEK, the exhibition therefore served two purposes. It created new relationships between European technology providers and our developing Central Asian network. But it also provided another piece of evidence for a larger development that we have been observing across Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the wider region: Central Asia is beginning to ask not only what can be extracted from its resource base, but what industrial value can be created around it. That question leads directly to one of the most important topics currently shaping the region. Critical minerals — and the gradual shift from a resource story toward an industrial value-chain story.