Sultanov B.K. Kazakhstan Today

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Tajikistan and in its agriculture and metallurgy. Kazakh investment

companies and funds have received ofﬁ cial support from the Tajik

government and are ready to invest funds in socioeconomic projects

in Tajikistan on a mutually beneﬁ cial basis.

The existing problems in the transit and migration spheres can be

solved and this was stressed at a meeting of the two countries’ heads

of government in Astana on 23 August 2007.

The most important aspect of the climate in the region is the issue

of building and operating hydrotechnical facilities and dams in the

upper reaches of major rivers. The upstream countries – Kyrgyzstan

and Tajikistan – regard water as their national strategic resource and

are trying to shift this issue onto the economic plane, whereas the

downstream countries – Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

– are convinced that this approach is artiﬁ cial and express their con-

cern over the stability of the water ﬂ ow.

This problem has acquired particular acuteness in relations be-

tween Tashkent and Dushanbe. Kazakhstan treats problems faced

by Tajikistan with understanding and expresses is readiness to

fulﬁ l projects to build hydropower stations but it also aims to seek

out understanding on issues with Uzbekistan, which is, uncondi-

tionally, important for the success of the implementation of these

initiatives.

From the point of the fulﬁ lment of Kazakhstan’s policy to-

wards Central Asia, President Nazarbayev’s visit to Tajikistan on

12-13 September 2007 was very important. Tajik President Emomali

Rakhmon reservedly supported the Kazakh initiative to set up the

Union of Central Asian States, but he particularly welcomed Asta-

na’s ﬁ nancial and economic efforts to boost bilateral and regional

cooperation.

In a similar way as it took place in Kyrgyzstan, the visit resulted in

the establishment of the Tajik-Kazakh Investment Fund with charter

capital of $100m.

The Tajik leadership has demonstrated interest in expanding

regional cooperation. In particular, during his visit to Kazakhstan

on 12-13 May 2008, President Rakhmon positively reacted to the

Kazakh initiative on regional association and signed a memorandum

on setting up the Interstate Coordination Council of Tajikistan and

Kazakhstan and the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of

the two countries.

As a result, Astana invited its Central Asian partners to consistently

move towards close regional cooperation on a pragmatic basis taking

into account the speciﬁ cs of each country. In this context this strategy

enjoys support from Bishkek and Dushanbe, while ofﬁ cial Tashkent

demonstratively rejected the Kazakh initiative.

That Ashgabat has become active also has had an impact on

cooperation between Central Asian countries. Turkmen President

Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov launched a more intensive dialogue

with his neighbours.

The new Turkmen leader’s foreign policy debut traditionally

started with an ofﬁ cial visit to Russia and later to regional neighbours.

In this context, relations between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan

became active between 2007 and 2009 – the Kazakh and Turkmen

leaders held an unprecedented number of meetings as part of bilateral

and multilateral cooperation.

The intensiﬁ cation of relations with Kazakhstan has both economic

and political grounds. Obviously, the Turkmen president pays particu-

lar attention to the development model and experience of Kazakhstan.

Kazakh-Turkmen relations have been boosted as a result of mutual

economic interests and their interest in expanding the geography of

transport routes.

Intergovernmental consultations prepared work to implement

agreements achieved at a meeting of the Turkmen, Russian and Ka-

zakh presidents in Turkmenbashi on 12 May 2007.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ofﬁ cial visit to Ashgabat

on 11-12 September 2007 made it possible to detail the Caspian gas

pipeline project, the North-South transport corridor and, as part of

this corridor, the construction of a railway line with the involvement

of Russia and Iran.

An important accord was the possibility of investing Kazakh capi-

tal in the Turkmen economy, including in the energy sphere. Clearly,

both countries have shown interest in harmonising their energy poli-

cies, above all in relation to exporting gas to foreign markets. With a

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pragmatic approach there is room to expand cooperation to include

neighbouring Uzbekistan.

All this shows that relations between Central Asian countries have

now changed signiﬁ cantly. Regional ties which had remained stag-

nant for a long time became active. Relations between Kazakhstan,

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have always been relatively intensive both

bilaterally and multilaterally, whereas cooperation with Uzbekistan is

complicated with a range of political and economic problems. Mean-

while, Turkmenistan has been avoiding multilateral relations, taking

part in few targeted international projects quite pragmatically.

The regional countries’ relations with leading external players and

relations between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan remain key aspects of

the climate in the region. The solution of border, passport and visa

control and trade and economic problems is still an issue for Central

Asian countries.

The mutually acceptable distribution of water resources is a long-

running problem and transit and transport and migration problems

also always top the agenda of bilateral and multilateral meetings.

Kazakhstan has announced its desire to develop closer cooperation

and intends to strengthen positive trends both politically (the establish-

ment of interstate countries, bilateral and multilateral dialogue) and

economically (investment in energy, transport and so on).

These efforts are not prompted by the ambitions of the leader, but

the state of bilateral and multilateral relations between the regional

countries.

This strategy is based on the objective necessity to ensure stability

and security in the region and create favourable foreign economic and

foreign political medium.

3.7. Kazakhstan and the USA

The United States of America is one of the global actors that

can exert signiﬁ cant inﬂ uence on the development of political and

economic processes. This fact explains why one of Kazakhstan’s

priority foreign policy directions is the development of relations

with the USA.

Kazakhstan is actively developing cooperation with the USA in

practically all spheres at the moment.

America was one of the ﬁ rst countries to ofﬁ cially recognise our

country’s independence (on 25 October 1991) and establish diplomatic

relations with Kazakhstan. Another important event in the develop-

ment of bilateral relations was that Kazakhstan voluntarily gave up of

nuclear weapons. This step has conﬁ rmed Kazakhstan’s adherence to

peaceful development and signiﬁ cantly increased the level of mutual

trust between the two countries.

Since Kazakhstan’s independence, President Nursultan Na-

zarbayev has paid six ofﬁ cial visits to the USA, which have resulted

in a number of bilateral agreements which laid the foundation for

the development of the further fruitful cooperation between the two

countries.

In particular, in May 1992, during President Nazarbayev’s visit to

the USA, the Agreement on Trade Relations, the Treaty between the

United States of America and the Republic of Kazakhstan Concern-

ing the Reciprocal Encouragement and Protection of Investment and

the joint declaration on the adoption of a treaty on the avoidance of

double taxation were signed [25, p 79].

In February 1994, Kazakhstan and the USA signed the Charter on

Democratic Partnership during another visit by the Kazakh president

to the USA.

The 11 September 2001 events triggered a new stage in Kazakh-

US relations. Kazakhstan condemned the terrorist attacks in Wash-

ington and New York and backed the US anti-terrorist operation in

Afghanistan [26].

Kazakhstan’s support for the US counterterrorist operations in

Afghanistan and Iraq was appreciated by the Americans. In December

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2001, at a meeting in Washington President Nazarbayev and US Presi-

dent George Bush adopted a joint statement on Kazakh-US relations

which reiterated mutual adherence to strengthening the long-term

strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and the USA.

At this meeting the Kazakh leader proposed the implementation

of the Houston initiative which envisaged exchanging experience and

establishing cooperation between the two countries in the sphere of

entrepreneurship.

As a result, on 3 October 2002 the Houston initiative was launched

and this was announced by the then Kazakh minister of foreign affairs,

Kasymzhomart Tokayev, and the then US ambassador to Kazakhstan,

Larry Napper. Mr Tokayev said that the Houston initiative was a

partnership between Kazakhstan and the USA that would bring the

two countries’ private sectors closer and improve the competitiveness

of Kazakhstan’s businesses, jointly producing and selling goods on

global markets [27].

At the ﬁ rst stage of the implementation of this initiative, the Eu-

ropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) allocated

$300m to Kazakh ﬁ nancial institutions as technical assistance.

The second phase of the Houston initiative provided funds for

social programmes in Kazakhstan.

On 30 January 2004, Mr Tokayev met the former coordinator for

US assistance to Europe and Eurasia, Carlos Pasqual and noted the

effectiveness of bilateral cooperation in the implementation of the

ﬁ rst phase of the Houston initiative which aimed to bring the two

countries’ business circles together, conduct various joint projects

and to develop the middle class in Kazakhstan.

The implementation of the Houston initiative represents the main

aspect of Kazakh-US economic cooperation because it expands

government support to the development of small and medium-sized

businesses in Kazakhstan, which, in turn, increases the socioeconomic

indicators of the country and improves the general level of the well-

being of the population.

One of the most important events to have inﬂ uenced the develop-

ment of Kazakh-US relations was a visit by the former US secretary

of state, Condoleezza Rice, to Astana in October 2005.

At meetings with Kazakh ofﬁ cials, she supported the country’s

efforts in economic development and said that America considered

Kazakhstan as a driver of economic growth in Central Asia.

In May 2006, during an ofﬁ cial visit to Astana by the former US

vice-president, Dick Cheney a memorandum on mutual understanding

between the two governments was signed as part of the Kazakh-US

economic development programme. The programme’s budget now

totals $40m over four years and includes the following components:

ﬁ nance and investment, the development of human capital, boosting

entrepreneurship and competitiveness, improving the investment

climate and global integration.

The programme will be jointly funded by the US and Kazakh

governments in future. The US contribution is expected to stand at

$24.5m and that of Kazakhstan at $15.5m.

In September 2006 President Nursultan Nazarbayev paid his sixth

ofﬁ cial visit to Washington where he met US high-raking ofﬁ cials. In

particular, President Nazarbayev met President George Bush, Vice-

President Dick Cheney, the former secretary of commerce, Carlos

Gutierrez, the former secretary of energy, Samuel Bodman, and the

director of the CIA, Michael Hayden.

This visit resulted in the adoption of a joint Kazakh-US statement

in which Washington showed its support for Kazakhstan’s strategy

to join the world’s 50 most competitive countries, its leadership in

regional integration processes and its desire to joint the World Trade

Organisation (WTO).

The visit was very effective for Kazakhstan, as the level of trust

between the USA and Kazakhstan has since increased.

In March 2007, the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs dis-

cussed the prospects for the development of Kazakh-US cooperation

with the then Kazakh ambassador to the USA, Kanat Saudabayev. The

meeting paid particular attention to one of President Nazarbayev’s

state-of-the-nation addresses and noted the signiﬁ cance of the further

development of the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and

America.

In particular, the chairman of the committee’s Subcommittee for

Asia, the Paciﬁ c and the Global Environment, Eni Faleomavaega,

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noted that Kazakhstan had become a reliable partner in ﬁ ghting ter-

rorism and stressed its role in satisfying global energy needs as a

country with huge energy resources. He said he was optimistic about

bilateral cooperation [28].

In October 2008, the former US secretary of state, Condoleezza

Rice, paid her second visit to Astana and held meetings with President

Nazarbayev, Prime Minister Karim Masimov, and the former minister

of foreign affairs, Marat Tazhin.

During these meetings she discussed the state and prospects for

bilateral relations and a wide range of international and regional

issues. The parties focused on the normalisation of the situation in

Afghanistan, the stabilisation of the situation in Iraq and the solution

of the Caucasian conﬂ ict.

Generally, Kazakh-US relations are now developing rapidly. There

is a steady growth trend in bilateral trade: it stood at $1.9bn in the ﬁ rst

ten months of 2008 (exports totalled $471.2m and imports $1,445m)

against $1.3bn in the same period of 2006 and $681.1m in the ﬁ rst

ten months of 2004. This shows that bilateral trade has increased by

over three times [29].

The United States is Kazakhstan’s major investor. The share of US

direct investment in the Kazakh economy accounts for about 23.5%

of total foreign direct investment. US investment in Kazakhstan

has exceeded $15bn over the years of independence. About 400 US

companies are operating in Kazakhstan [28]. These ﬁ gures, undoubt-

edly, show the importance of the US factor in Kazakhstan’s future

economic development.

The USA is now backing the diversiﬁ cation of routes to export

energy resources from Kazakhstan. For example, America supported

the construction of the Western Kazakhstan-Western China oil pipe-

line and the connection of Kazakhstan to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan

(BTC) oil pipeline.

An agreement on Kazakhstan’s joining the BTC took place at a

meeting between Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Azer-

baijani President Ilkham Aliyev on 16 June 2006. After the signing

President Nazarbayev stressed that this project had opened a third

route to transport oil from Kazakhstan, in addition to the Russian

and Chinese routes, and that increasing the country’s oil output had

become a very urgent matter.

Cooperation in this sphere meets the interests of both Kazakh-

stan and the USA. Kazakhstan’s involvement in alternative regional

projects relating to the export of energy resources to global markets

opens up the possibility of entering new promising markets that have

been prompted by heightened interest in Kazakh hydrocarbons from

other major regional players such as India, Japan and other Asia-

Paciﬁ c powers.

Kazakhstan and the USA now have very strong cooperation based

on a ﬁ rm legislative and contractual basis and interact in the sphere

of ensuring security.

In 2003, the two countries signed a ﬁ ve-year plan of military

cooperation. This document covers spheres of bilateral cooperation

such as countering international terrorism, developing peacekeeping

forces, strengthening Kazakhstan’s air defence forces, developing

military infrastructure in the Caspian Sea and the Navy, establishing

a military institute of foreign languages and so on.

Between 30 January and 1 February 2008 scheduled bilateral

consultations were held in Astana between the defence structures of

Kazakhstan and the USA led by Kazakh Deputy Minister of Defence

Lt-Gen Bolat Sembinov and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence

Mitchell Shivers. As a result, in February 2008, a memorandum of

understanding was signed by the Kazakh Ministry of Defence and the

US Department of Defence regarding a ﬁ ve-year plan of cooperation

for 2008-2012.

The signing of the second ﬁ ve-year plan of military cooperation is

a sign of the expansion of military and political cooperation between

the two countries aimed at the implementation of the national plans

for the transformation of Kazakhstan’s armed forces, the improve-

ment of the country’s peacekeeping potential and the development

of the national system of military education and training, as well as

the supplies of modern samples of military and technical equipment

and vehicles.

In light of Kazakhstan’s increasing role as regional economic

leader, the USA is increasingly interested in expanding cooperation

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Kazakhstan and the EU established diplomatic relations on 2 February 1993. In December

1993 Kazakhstan opened its representation to the EU in Brussels. In November 1994 the European

Commission opened its representation in Almaty and earlier, in April 1992, the Kazakh government

and the European Commission signed a memorandum on funding, which became the foundation

for the TACIS technical assistance programme for the CIS in Kazakhstan in solving the economic,

political and social problems of the transitional period. As part of the technical assistance, the TEM-

PUS programme was launched in Kazakhstan in 1994 to provide assistance in the education and

scientiﬁ c research spheres. A number of Kazakh higher educational and scientiﬁ c establishments

took an active part in this programme. In December 1994 the Kazakh government signed the Final

Act of the European Energy Charter, which aims to encourage industrial cooperation between the

EU and other countries through offering legal guarantees in the spheres of investment, transit and

trade. The treaty also covers energy efﬁ ciency and nuclear security issues.

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with Kazakhstan in practically all spheres of relations. Key aspects

of bilateral cooperation are joint projects in the spheres of energy,

economic partnership and ensuring regional stability and ﬁ ghting

international terrorism.

At the same time, Kazakhstan, which remains the most politically

and socioeconomically stable country in the region, is an important

geostrategic partner in Central Asia for the USA.

In January 2009, at a meeting with US Ambassador to Kazakhstan

Richard Hoagland, Speaker of the Kazakh parliament’s Mazhilis Ural

Mukhamedzhanov expressed the hope to preserve the continuity of the

US foreign policy towards Central Asian countries after the election

of Barack Obama as America’s president [30].

3.8. Kazakhstan and the EU

Cooperation with the European Union is one the major aspects of

Kazakhstan’s foreign policy. Prospects for and the need to develop

these relations for Kazakhstan are determined by the EU’s interna-

tional role in the modern world. In addition, the EU is an important

trade and economic partner for Kazakhstan and a major investor in its

economy. Western European countries’ rich experience in legislative

and scientiﬁ c and technical development is also of particular interest

to Kazakhstan.

The chronology of Kazakhstan’s relations with the EU involves

singling out several stages of bilateral cooperation. The initial phase

(1992-1995) was characterised as the period of the establishment of

ofﬁ cial political contacts and the formation of the contractual and

legislative and institutional basis for interstate relations between the

sides. The signiﬁ cant milestones of bilateral interaction in that time

were the signing of agreements and the exchange of plenipotentiary

delegations between Kazakhstan and the EU

The logical result of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the EU

in this period was the signing of the Partnership and Cooperation

Agreement in Brussels on 23 January 1995 during a scheduled meet-

ing of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. This agreement was signed

by President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the General Secretary of the

EU Council, Alain Jupp

é [31].

It is worth noting that the Partnership and Cooperation Agree-

ment became the primary bilateral document, aimed at developing

political, economic and cultural links between Kazakhstan and the

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Kazakhstan and the EU are also cooperating under other programmes: Copernicus; the

Central Asia Drug Action Programme (CADAP) and the Border Management Programme for

Central Asia (BOMCA)

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EU. The agreement created the foundation for a constructive politi-

cal dialogue and an open trade and investment regime between the

parties and envisaged cooperation in 27 directions: from transport to

education and from energy to ﬁ ghting crime.

The years that followed (1996-2000) were marked by the expan-

sion and revitalisation of relations based on earlier achieved accords.

The main stress in this period was put on cooperation in the oil and

gas and energy spheres and the transport and telecommunications

sector and mutual trade and investment were strengthened.

At the same time, initiatives to create bilateral cooperation struc-

tures were developed in practice. In particular, on 29 April 1996,

the Kazakh government set up a joint Kazakhstan-European Union

cooperation committee. It should be noted that this committee has

become an important political link in developing and maintaining

a constructive partnership between Kazakhstan and the EU in the

years that followed. Other joint institutional bodies, for example, the

Cooperation Council and the Parliamentary Cooperation Committee,

were also set up at a high level.

In May 1997, an EU delegation on issues of justice and internal

affairs paid a visit to Kazakhstan. With the aim of bringing closer,

modifying and harmonising EU and Kazakh legislation, EU politi-

cians proposed the creation of an advisory centre for strategic and

legal issues in Kazakhstan.

The same year the basic agreement on the European Energy Char-

ter, signed three years earlier, came into force.

For Kazakhstan this document was of extraordinary signiﬁ cance: it

guaranteed the inadmissibility of discrimination in the energy market

and assisted Kazakhstan’s integration into the global energy commu-

nity with the observation of national trade and economic interests.

On 17-18 June 1998, a European Commission delegation visited

Astana to discuss the political and organisational aspects of the

implementation of the TACIS programme in Kazakhstan. In addition

to the adoption of national indicative programmes and assistance

programmes, the EU drafted interstate and regional programmes for

partner countries such as INOGATE (assistance to Caspian-littoral

countries in attracting investment in new pipelines), TRACECA

(investment projects and assistance in developing a transport cor-

ridor between Europe and Central Asia), Eurocustoms (cooperation

in the customs sphere) and the Eurostat (cooperation in the statistics

sphere) [32]

A landmark event in this period was the enforcement of the

Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the Republic of

Kazakhstan and the European Union (1 July 1999), which completed

the ofﬁ cial political formation of relations [33].

New aspects of mutually beneﬁ cial cooperation became: the devel-

opment of partner relations with European Space Agency enterprises

for the creation and launch of a joint satellite and other projects in

the hi-tech sphere. The ﬁ rst step in this direction was the successful

launch of the Cluster 2 satellite using a Russian booster from the

Baikonur space launching site in March 2000.

That cooperation in this sphere should be expanded is necessitated

by Kazakhstan’s possible involvement in the Galileo satellite naviga-

tion system and the European framework programme for boosting

competitiveness and developing innovations.

An inter-parliamentary dialogue between members of the Kazakh

parliament and the European parliament is developing successfully.

On 23 May 2000 a group of members of the European parliament, led

by the then ﬁ rst deputy chairman of the Central Asia and Mongolia

Delegation, Ioannis Koukiadis, visited Kazakhstan and discussed is-

sues of cooperation between the parties with the heads of the Kazakh

parliament and government and took part in the ﬁ rst sitting of the Ka-

zakhstan- European Union Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

This committee has so far held eight sittings and its activities help

productive exchange of information and views on a wide range of

issues of cooperation in the political, economic and social spheres

between parliamentarians.

Particular attention is being paid to programmes of EU technical

assistance in the environmental protection and healthcare spheres. For

example, Kazakhstan received ﬁ nancial and technical assistance to

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solve problems in the Aral Sea region and clear up the consequences

of nuclear tests in the Semipalatinsk testing ground.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ofﬁ cial visits to EU

bodies in Brussels in June 2000 and November 2002 gave a signiﬁ cant

impetus to the development and creation of favourable conditions for

strengthening bilateral cooperation between Kazakhstan and the EU.

During these visits, the Kazakh leader met the then president of the

European Commission Romano Prodi, and the former secretary-gen-

eral of the Council of the European Union and senior representative

for the common foreign and security policy, Javier Solana [34].

The visits resulted in the signing of an agreement on amending

the Kazakh-EU agreement on trade in textile products and the rati-

ﬁ cation of an agreement between the Kazakh government and the

European Atomic Energy Community on cooperation in the sphere

of controlled fusion.

Since 2002, relations between Kazakhstan and the EU have en-

tered a new level of cooperation. This period is regarded as the period

of the active implementation of the fundamental provisions of the

Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, accompanied by the EU’s

increasing interest in cooperation with Central Asian countries. The

latest global events have signiﬁ ed interaction in new spheres. Joint

efforts are being put into drafting new projects to assist Kazakhstan in

solving the problems facing the country’s domestic development.

In February 2002 the then head of the department for relations

with Central Asia and the Caucasus of the European Commission’s

Directorate General for External Relations, Cornelius Wittebrood,

held talks with the Kazakh government in Astana. He stressed that

the EU considered Kazakhstan as an important economic partner and

was ready to develop mutually beneﬁ cial cooperation.

During the talks accords were reached on the avoidance of double

taxation, foreign labour exports and the inviolability of earlier signed

contracts. In addition, issues of environmental protection and re-

gional cooperation, strengthening border and customs services and

Kazakhstan’s membership of the WTO were discussed.

Cooperation in the investment sphere occupies a particular place

in Kazakh-EU relations. The EU member states accounted for 40%

of the total foreign direct investment in Kazakhstan in 2002. Euro-

pean investment was attracted mainly through the transfer of major

industrial enterprises to foreign ﬁ rms’ management and the creation

of joint and subsidiary enterprises.

According to statistics, there were 1,355 enterprises with the in-

volvement of capital from EU countries in Kazakhstan as of January

2003, and leading countries were Belgium, the United Kingdom,

Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and France. European capital

was mainly invested in the country’s extractive sector [35].

Cooperation is dynamically developing in the oil and gas and energy

spheres. When considering the structure of Kazakh exports of mineral

resources, it should be stressed that the EU accounts for the bulk of

them. EU countries’ energy policies are based on using the existing oil

pipelines that ship hydrocarbons to European oil reﬁ neries and becom-

ing actively involved in extraction in the Caspian Sea shelf.

Shell (the Netherlands), TotalFinaElf and Schlumberger (France),

ENI and Agip (Italy), British Petroleum and Lasmo (UK), Repsol

(Spain), Wintershall (Germany) and Statoil (Norway) are involved in

oil and gas extraction in the Caspian and Central Asian region.

In addition, Kazakh-EU cooperation in the oil sector is under

way as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Odessa-Brody-Plock

oil pipeline projects.

During an ofﬁ cial visit to Kazakhstan on 15-16 March 2004 the EU’s

then External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten noted that coopera-

tion in the energy sphere was a strategic aspect of the EU’s policy in

Central Asia. As a result, in November 2004 the Baku initiative resulted

in a dialogue was launched between the EU and Black and Caspian-lit-

toral countries to expand partnership in the energy sphere

On 30 November 2006 as part of the Baku initiative EU, Black and Caspian-littoral countries

and their neighbours held the second ministerial energy conference in Astana and adopted a pack-

age of important documents: a roadmap on speciﬁ c projects; a conceptual note; and conclusions.

Kazakhstan’s former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Baktykozha Izmukhambetov and

the EU’s former Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs led their respective delegations. This

initiative covers the following aspects of cooperation: harmonising energy markets based on the

principles of the EU internal energy market taking into account peculiarities of partner countries;

including energy security through exports/imports of energy resources, diversifying supplies, transit

and demand for energy; supporting the sustainable development of the energy sphere, including

boosting energy efﬁ ciency of renewable sources of energy and managing demand; attracting

investment in energy projects of common and regional interest.

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Since 2006 Kazakh-EU energy cooperation has strengthened

signiﬁ cantly. In order to revitalise energy projects the EU’s former

Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs paid an ofﬁ cial visit to

Kazakhstan in May 2006. In December 2006 Kazakhstan and the

EU signed a memorandum on cooperation in the energy sphere. This

document envisages two roadmaps on cooperation in strengthening

energy security and industry, the implementation of which includes the

regular exchange of information on energy issues, mutually beneﬁ cial

shipment of energy resources and the development of environmentally

friendly technologies.

A promising aspect in strengthening the Kazakh-EU energy dia-

logue is development cooperation in the nuclear energy sphere and

the uranium industry. This cooperation resulted in the signing of a

Kazakh-EU agreement on using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes

on 5 December 2006. This document envisages improving cooperation

in nuclear security and nuclear fusion through ensuring the sustainable

structure of the development of trade in nuclear materials between

the two sides.

Another important sphere for cooperation that developed qualita-

tively during this period is cooperation in the sphere of trade in textile

products. In April 2004 Kazakhstan’s then permanent representative

in the European Communities, Konstantin Zhigalov and the then

permanent representative of Ireland that chaired the EU, Anne An-

derson, signed a Kazakh-EU intergovernmental agreement on trade in

textile products, under which Kazakhstan received the opportunity to

export over 150 textile items to the EU. Kazakh textile exports to EU

countries (Belgium, the UK, Germany, Denmark and Italy) stood at

$8.4m in 2004, while imports from the EU (the UK, Germany, Italy,

France and the Netherlands) were $29.6m [35].

Generally, the structure of trade between Kazakhstan and the EU

has not undergone signiﬁ cant changes, and metals, hydrocarbons and

minerals account for the bulk of Kazakh exports. Kazakhstan’s imports

include electrotechnical equipment, ground, air and water transport

means and their spare parts, chemical and metal products.

Taking into the account that the EU acquired ten new members on

1 May 2004 and another two – Bulgaria and Romania – on 1 January

2007, Kazakhstan and the EU signed a protocol to the Partnership

and Cooperation Protocol, which adapted the agreement to the ex-

panded EU.

Let us note that following the expansion (the EU-25) in May 2004

Kazakhstan’s trade with the EU countries jumped signiﬁ cantly to

$15.3bn in 2005, comprising exports of $11bn and imports $4.3bn.

In 2006 trade continued to grow and reached $22.7bn, with ex-

ports of $16.53bn and imports of $6.26bn. EU countries accounted

for 36.3% of Kazakhstan’s total foreign trade.

In 2007 trade increased to $27.5bn (exports of $19.5bn and imports

$8bn) and in 2008 reached $34.1bn (exports of $26.9bn and imports

$7.1bn) [35].

In the ﬁ rst quarter 2009, trade between Kazakhstan and the EU

totalled $4.7bn, including exports of $3.3bn and imports $1.4bn.

During the years of cooperation EU countries have invested over

$73.4bn in the Kazakh economy. The main investors are the Nether-

lands, Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom [35].

Since 2006 Kazakhstan and the EU have been intensifying the

political component of cooperation. In October 2006 the former

minister of foreign affairs of Kazakhstan, Kasymzhomart Tokayev,

paid his ﬁ rst ofﬁ cial visit to EU bodies in Brussels. He met the former

secretary-general of the Council of the European Union and senior

representative for the common foreign and security policy, Javier

Solana, and the former European Commissioner for External Rela-

tions and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner,

who announced the proposal to increase the level of cooperation with

Kazakhstan by involving the country in European Neighbourhood

Policy and holding regular consultations in the format of the EU

Troika-Kazakhstan at the ministerial level.

This topic developed further during Benita Ferrero-Waldner’s visit

to Kazakhstan on 18-20 October 2006. She met Kazakh President

Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former minister of foreign affairs, Kasym-

zhomart Tokayev, and the former speaker of the Kazakh parliament’s

upper chamber, the Senate, Nurtai Abykayev.

During these meetings the parties discussed a wide range of issues

surrounding interaction between Kazakhstan and the EU, includ-

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Chapter 3. Foreign Policy

ing the issues of diversiﬁ cation of energy supplies to EU countries;

the region’s energy security; interaction within the Galileo space

navigation programme; and the expansion of political and trade and

economic cooperation.

President Nazarbayev’s visit to Brussels on 4-6 December 2006 be-

came a signiﬁ cant step in cooperation between Kazakhstan and the EU.

The president visited the European Commission’s headquarters and met

the president of the European Commission, Jos

é Manuel Barroso [36].

The talks resulted in the signing of a memorandum on mutual

understanding in the energy sphere.

President Nazarbayev also met the former secretary-general of

the Council of the European Union and senior representative for

the common foreign and security policy, Javier Solana, and they

exchanged views on a broad spectre of issues of Kazakh-EU politi-

cal cooperation.

Being aware that the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement,

signed by Kazakhstan and the EU, was expected to expire in 2009,

the parties agreed to raise their bilateral relations to the level of stra-

tegic partnership.

An important point in political cooperation is the involvement of

Kazakh and EU leaders in meetings in the format of the EU Troika-

Central Asian countries. During a meeting in Astana in March 2007

they discussed a draft EU Strategy for Central Asia in 2007-2013,

which was adopted at the EU summit on 22 June 2007 under the title

The European Union and Central Asia: Strategy for a New Partner-

ship. In the meeting the EU stressed its desire to increase the level

of its presence in the Central Asian region through assisting in the

political and economic development of Central Asian countries.

As a result, in the past 18 years mutual cooperation between Ka-

zakhstan and the EU has reached positive results almost in all spheres

of interaction. Kazakhstan positively assesses the prospects for future

cooperation and hopes for expanding a dialogue with the EU.

In turn, the EU also positively assessed President Nazarbayev’s

initiative to draft the special Path to Europe programme in the context

of Kazakh-European relations, including the preparations ahead of

Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the OSCE in 2010.

3.9. Kazakhstan and Middle Eastern Countries

Middle Eastern countries now have a powerful political, business

and intellectual potential. In the global system of energy balance,

regional countries occupy a special place, which has allowed them to

create major ﬁ nancial and economic centres that have a considerable

impact on the geopolitical alignment of forces in the modern world.

Since acquiring independence Kazakhstan has been trying to

establish friendly relations with Middle Eastern countries, with the

intention of close interaction. Kazakhstan sees them as promising

economic, political and cultural partners because all the necessary

conditions have developed for mutual understanding and cooperation

between Kazakhstan and the countries in the region.

Kazakhstan established diplomatic relations with Middle Eastern

countries between 1992 and 1999. One of the ﬁ rst countries to estab-

lish ofﬁ cial relations with Kazakhstan in March 1992 was the Republic

of Turkey. Ofﬁ cial visits that followed by Turkish President Turgut

Ozal to Kazakhstan in 1993 and President Nursultan Nazarbayev to

Turkey in 1994 expanded economic ties and political cooperation.

A package of important interstate agreements, signed by Astana

and Ankara, has helped the consistent development of both diplomatic

relations between the two countries and trade and economic relations,

including as part of meetings of Turkic states.

Dynamically developing bilateral relations between Kazakhstan

and Turkey have found reﬂ ection in joint activities to implement the

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan project. This oil pipeline ships Caspian oil to

global markets, which is why Astana and Ankara attach particular

signiﬁ cance to it.

A new impetus to interaction between Kazakhstan and Turkey was

given by their leaders’ declaration of the development of strategic

partnership between Astana and Ankara. This initiative was announced

during President Nazarbayev’s visit to Turkey in May 2003 and was

conﬁ rmed during his meeting with Turkey’s former President Ahmet

Necdet Sezer at the NATO summit in Istanbul in June 2004 [37].

As a result, the constant nature of relations between the two states

is a shining example of successful cooperation in which the issue of

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Kazakhstan today

Chapter 3. Foreign Policy

strengthening bilateral mutually beneﬁ cial contacts receives increased

attention and Kazakhstan and Turkey intend to continue cooperation

in international and regional organisations in the future.

The geopolitical location and economic potential of the Islamic

Republic of Iran make it a major partner for Kazakhstan, and of-

ﬁ cial relations were established in January 1992. The foundation of

long-term cooperation between the two countries was laid during

President Nazarbayev’s visit to Tehran in November 1992 and Iran’s

former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s visit to Kazakhstan

in October 1993.

Later priority aspects of bilateral cooperation were deﬁ ned dur-

ing President Nazarbayev’s visit to Iran in May 1996, October 1999

and October 2007 and during the then Iranian President Mohammad

Khatami’s participation in the Economic Cooperation Organisation

summit in Almaty in May 1998 and his visit to Kazakhstan in April

2002 [37].

The establishment of partner relations between Astana and Tehran

is characterised by the similarity of the two countries’ positions on

many international and regional issues. Kazakhstan and Iran now are

putting joint efforts into the creation of the North-South transport

corridor to reduce distance and optimise routes to supply goods from

Europe to Asia.

The planned construction of a railway link and roads along the

Caspian Sea to join Iran’s transport networks will intensify economic

processes not only between Kazakhstan and Iran, but also throughout

the entire region [38, p 183].

Astana and Tehran also intend to use the potential of sea routes in

the Caspian Sea and ship freight between major ports in Kazakhstan

and Iran.

Kazakhstan is currently actively cooperating with Iran as part of

a project to ship oil on tankers from the port of Aktau to the Iranian

port of Neka, where it would be swapped for Iranian oil in the Gulf

for sale to Asia-Paciﬁ c countries.

The two Caspian-littoral states attach particular attention to deﬁ ning

the legal state of the Caspian Sea. An interstate dialogue in this direction

is being held as part of summits of heads of Caspian-littoral states.

The two countries are also developing cooperation at regional

levels. Iran’s involvement in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

since July 2005 (as an observer) helps expand the range of issues for

discussion and consultation and exchange views on topical problems

of international politics.

Enjoying its strong reputation in developing countries in Asia, the

Arab Republic of Egypt tries to act as a mediator in solving complex re-

gional problems. The similarity of Kazakhstan’s and Egypt’s positions

on a broad scope of issues of regional security, including interethnic

conﬂ icts and interstate contradictions, and the formation of a regional

system of collective security conditions the desire of Kazakhstan and

Egypt to establish close mutually beneﬁ cial relations.

The countries established diplomatic relations in March 1992.

Important political events in the history of Kazakh-Egyptian rela-

tions include President Nazarbayev’s visit to Egypt in February 1993

and March 2007 and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s visit to

Kazakhstan in November 2006.

Cooperation between Astana and Cairo on strengthening secu-

rity measures in the region is reﬂ ected in the countries’ interaction

to implement the Kazakh initiative of convening the CICA and the

Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, as well as

joint work within international organisations like the OIC and the

League of Arab States.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupies a key position in the

political and economic life of the Middle East, and it is the world’s

largest exporter of energy resources as well as the home to Islamic

holy shrines.

Kazakh-Saudi relations were established on 30 April 1994 and

President Nazarbayev paid his ﬁ rst ofﬁ cial visit to the country in

the autumn of that year. Strengthening friendly relations between

the countries, at Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz’s invitation

President Nazarbayev paid his second visit to the kingdom in

March 2004.

In turn, high-ranking Saudi ofﬁ cials visited Kazakhstan, including

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence and Aviation and In-

spector General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Sultan