On May 12, 2026, Alexander Sternik, Director General of the Third Department of the Commonwealth of Independent States at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, publicly stated at the 6th Valdai International Debate Club Central Asia Conference held in Glinjik that Russia will adhere to the principle of equality and mutual benefit, and plan to cooperate with Central Asian countries in the field of rare earth metals. The scope of cooperation will cover multiple aspects such as talent cultivation, joint production, and scientific research.

Sternik stated that the mining development in Central Asia largely continues the industrial foundation of the Soviet era. Russia already has a complete production capacity for rare earth metals in the entire industry chain, but even so, it actively promotes cooperation with Central Asian countries in this field. He used the oil and gas industry as an example to illustrate that even though Russia has abundant domestic oil and gas resources, it has always been laying out oil and gas drilling and extraction related businesses on a global scale. Keywords:Engineering Construction,Construction News,Engineering Information

At the same time, Sternik also mentioned that Russia intends to further deepen cooperation with China in related fields. Both sides can work together to promote the coordinated development of mineral resources in the region by sharing infrastructure, integrating the mineral resource advantages of Central Asia and the industrial production capacity of China and Russia, and leveraging China's outstanding advantages in mineral mining, beneficiation technology, and financial support.Editor/Gong Ziwei