Central Asia is at a very interesting point in its history. Twenty years ago, its constituent countries – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan – became sovereign nations following the collapse of the Soviet Union. This has served to open the area to foreign investment.

The region, defined by the Caspian Sea in the west, Russia in the north, China in the east and Afghanistan in the south, contains many valuable natural resources. However, while under Soviet rule, the Central Asian nations could not take advantage of these deposits. Now, as sovereign nations, they are looking to utilise the reserves within their borders to accelerate their economic growth.

The major issue these countries face is the ability to get the resources beyond their own borders. Central Asia is essentially landlocked and for countries with less developed economies, transporting resources is not easy – this is where foreign investors are needed, to help to develop the necessary infrastructure.

Investors from all over the world saw dollar signs when Central Asia opened up. Now, due to its abundance of minerals, metals and other deposits, it is one of the fastest-growing emerging markets in the world. But what is it that makes the region so enticing to investors? It is more than the sheer volume of deposits; what investors are attracted to is the diversity of resources.

One of the most important resources in the region is oil – both Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have major reserves of fossil fuels. The closest body of water, the Caspian Sea, has massive amounts of oil as well, and as deep sea drilling technology improves, volumes will increase.

Beyond fossil fuels, Central Asia also other natural resources in abundance. Over 15 per cent of Kyrgyzstan's GDP comes for gold deposits. Uzbekistan also has gold reserves, as well as being one of the world's leading cotton exporters.

In addition to oil, Kazakhstan is a major wheat and flour exporter and has large deposits of precious metals such as lead, chromium, uranium and zinc. Investors are interested in Turkmenistan, meanwhile, for its hydroelectric potential.

Fadi Farra, the main author of the Central Asia Competitiveness Outlook, believes there is a lot of growth potential in the Central Asian region, and that investors should be jumping at the chance to invest in the area.

"This region has been, so far, not enough on the radar screen of investors," Mr Farra explained. "The gap between current endowments, the current performance, and the potential future performance, compared to other regions, is actually quite large. And there are great opportunities to improve competitiveness." 

With experts like Mr Farra highlighting the Central Asia's investment potential, there is no reason for investors not to take advantage of the great opportunity in the region. The quantity of natural resources and reserves of fossil fuels and precious metals is staggering. These markets will continue to grow over the next decade and the investors that get involved early will benefit from all that potential the most.