Kazakhstan joined the World Bank's Metals and Minerals Compact, becoming the first Central Asian participant and setting a target to attract $20 billion in mining and processing investment by 2031, DKNews reported on Oct. 16. Kazakhstan and the World Bank signed the agreement on the fringes of annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Bangkok, Thailand, where Argentina, Bolivia, Egypt, India, Malawi, Mauritania and Zambia also launched separate metals and minerals partnerships or compacts.