Aliyev Casts Long Shadow Over Kazakh Intellegence Amangeldy Shabdarbayev, Chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB), has confirmed continuing concern about the infamous case of Rakhat Aliyev, while trying to give a positive image of the KNB working closely with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to tackle serious security threats


Kazakhstan Joining Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline Project Gas Kazakhstan is close to the completion
of the legal registration of documents on joining the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Kazakh Minister of Energy and
Mineral Resources Sauat Mynbayev said on Wednesday at a meeting
of the Kazakh-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission for economic
cooperation

KazMunaiGas: Despite Growing Production, Revenue Remains Flat While oil prices keep breaking new records seemingly every day, KazMunaiGas, the
Kazakh national oil company, has not registered a significant increase
in revenues so far this year


Central Asia: EU Sees 'Huge Scope For Cooperation' As the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian states met with an EU delegation in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner spoke to RFE/RL's Uzbek Service about the EU's goals for human rights and development in the region

Uzbek president's visit to Astana highlights serious obstacles in Creating Central Asia Alliance Uzbekistan President, Islom Karimov, does not conceal his suspicions about the true intent of Kazakh leaders as they seek to become leaders of the region

Kazakhstan Wants New and Renovated Roads The Kazakh government will seek investors to build or maintain 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of roads at a projected cost of 541 billion tenge ($4.5 billion) in exchange for operating concessions, the Transportation Ministry said

S&P revises Kazakh outlook on bank, funding woes Standard & Poor's on Tuesday revised its outlook on Kazakhstan's sovereign credit ratings to negative from stable, saying there is an increasing risk that deteriorating bank asset quality and funding challenges will impact the country's economy

KZ's negative outlook leads to negative actions on its GREs - S&P Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it has revised its outlook to negative from stable on several Kazakh sovereign and corporate government-related entities (GREs) and their units

Nato Weighs Protection of Kazakh Oil Facilities It is now becoming increasingly clear that European NATO members had a secondary agenda as well, involving increased access to the hydrocarbon riches of Central Asia

Kazakhstan's Neighbors Await Decision on Grain Exprots Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov says Almaty plans this week to either introduce new duties on grain, or impose a complete ban on exports

NG: Rating of Kazakhstan is negative The problems Kazakhstan is encountering compel its leaders to recall the money stashed away against the rainy day. Analysts of the Risk Evaluation Group predict "mounting social tension in Kazakhstan in 2008 due to food price-rise and prices of tenements practically nobody can afford."

Central Asia: Behind The Hype, Russia And China Vie For Region Resources When Russia and China held joint military exercises last summer, it appeared that a powerful new strategic alliance was about to come of age

Astana Set to Make Energy Export Break with Russia Efforts to construct a trans-Caspian pipeline that would dent Russia’s energy-export dominance in the region continue to make incremental progress

Water Woes Stoke Economic Worries After enduring extreme cold this past winter, Central Asia is bracing for what some officials say will be a dry summer. Those predictions, in turn, are stirring fears of prolonged power shortages that seriously impair economic functions

Karimov, Bakiyev React Differently to Nazarbayev's Central Asia Union On April 22 Uzbek President Islam Karimov visited Astana to meet with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Both leaders agreed to boost bilateral economic cooperation by creating a common trade area at the borders. Karimov's harsh criticism of Nazarbayev's Central Asia Union (CAU), however, raised eyebrows among many in Kazakh political circles

The Kazakh Rockefeller of Nuclear Fuel Mukhtar Dzhakishev, president of state-owned mining enterprise Kazatomprom, plans to triple production at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk, a former secret city south of Siberia