US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Kazakhstan will join the Abraham Accords to have normalized relations with Israel.
The announcement came after Trump said he had held a call with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
"We will soon announce a Signing Ceremony to make it official, and there are many more Countries trying to join this club of STRENGTH," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The Kazakh government said in a statement that the matter was in the final stage of negotiations.
"Our anticipated accession to the Abraham Accords represents a natural and logical continuation of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy course — grounded in dialogue, mutual respect, and regional stability," it added.
Kazakhstan already has full diplomatic relations and economic ties with Israel, meaning the move would be largely symbolic, something Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back against on Thursday.
"It's an enhanced relationship beyond just diplomatic relations," he said.
"It is... with all the other countries that are part of the accord. You're now creating a partnership that brings special and unique economic development on all sorts of issues that they can work on together."
Trump met with Tokayev alongside four other Central Asian leaders from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan at the White House on Thursday as the US seeks to gain influence in a region long dominated by Russia and increasingly courted by China.
"Some of the countries represented here are going to be joining the Abraham Accords... and those announcements will be made over the next little while," Trump said.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said earlier at a business forum in Florida that he would be returning to Washington for the announcement, without naming the country.
Axios first reported that the country would be Kazakhstan.
