President Trump on Thursday will welcome Kazakhstan into the Abraham Accords, the agreements centered around normalizing ties with Israel, two sources confirmed to The Hill.
Israel and Kazakhstan have had diplomatic relations since 1992, and it’s not clear what benefit Astana will get from joining the accords — although it provides a forum for greater cooperation on economic and security matters.
The Abraham Accords were established in 2020 and succeeded in brokering ties between Israel and Gulf countries — the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — marking the first time in nearly 30 years that Israel had established new ties with one of its Muslim neighbors.
On Thursday evening, Trump is hosting the leaders of Kazakhstan and four other Central Asian countries, called the C5+1 summit. The forum was established in 2015 and this year marks the first visit to the White House. The meeting is expected to focus on deepening economic cooperation, developing rare earth mineral supply chains and strengthening security ties.
But an Abraham Accords expansion touches on a key priority for Trump, who has long-argued the normalization agreements were worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. He has chased adding Saudi Arabia to the group and is working on getting Syria to join.
Trump, during his first term, had Morocco agree to join the accords and elevate its already established ties with Israel. The administration also brought Sudan into the accords, although it’s not clear what the status of relations are since Sudan plunged into a devastating civil war in 2023.
