President Isaac Herzog is on an official visit to Kazakhstan. In Astana, Herzog met President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the Akorda Presidential Palace, where the two leaders held a private meeting followed by broader talks with senior Kazakh officials and Israeli delegation members. The focus was turning years of quiet Israel-Kazakhstan ties into a much larger partnership built around trade, technology, direct flights and the Abraham Accords.

Herzog told Tokayev he wants to “double, triple, and more” the volume of business and trade between the two countries, while saying Israel and Kazakhstan are close to approving direct flights. That would be a major practical step. Direct air links would make business travel, tourism and people-to-people ties far easier, especially after the two countries already moved toward visa-free travel for national passport holders.

The Abraham Accords were also at the center of the visit. Kazakhstan already had full diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992, meaning its decision to join the Accords was not a classic normalization breakthrough. But symbolically, it matters: a Muslim-majority Central Asian power is choosing to publicly deepen its alignment with Israel and the U.S.-backed regional framework at a time when Israel’s enemies are working to isolate it. Tokayev said the Accords created a framework for regional stability and shared prosperity, and Kazakh media reported that he proposed holding Kazakhstan’s formal accession ceremony in Astana in the near future.

The economic lane is where this visit could become concrete. Kazakhstan says bilateral trade with Israel reached $193.5 million in 2025, while noting that official figures may undercount the real volume because some major shipments move through third countries. Israeli and Kazakh officials have pointed to room for growth in AI, digitalization, agriculture, water management, cybersecurity, healthcare, energy and investment. Tokayev also highlighted Kazakhstan’s claim of religious tolerance, telling Herzog that there is “no antisemitism in Kazakhstan” and noting Judaism’s recognized place in the country’s religious landscape.

For Israel, the message is clear, the Abraham Accords are not frozen, and Israeli diplomacy is still expanding eastward. For Kazakhstan, the visit strengthens ties with Jerusalem and Washington while giving Astana a bigger role in a framework built around stability, trade and regional cooperation. The test now is whether direct flights, business deals and formal Accords ceremonies follow the warm words.