Kazakh Leader's Daughter Monitored U.S. Bribe Case The daughter of Kazakhstan's president used well-connected Washington private security consultants to gather information on a U.S. bribery probe involving her father that has stymied the nation's access to $84 million in disputed funds

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

Medvedev Kicks Off Kazakhstan Courtship With Kazakhstan the choice for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s first official state visit, Russian and Kazakhstani officials are talking hard about plans to expand their governments’ partnership. However, the two former Soviet states are understood to remain divided over some divergent interests, notably oil transit, despite Russian claims to the contrary

Caspian Basin: No Way to Halt Sturgeon Poaching Momentum is building among Caspian Basin governments for a moratorium on sturgeon fishing, in order to protect the lucrative caviar trade. Informal discussions with fishermen, however, suggest that an official ban would be unlikely to halt the dangerous depletion of sturgeon stocks

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

Weekly Review of Political Developments in Kazakhstan Traditional May festivities notwithstanding, last week was replete with political developments and staff changes in Kazakhstan. Akims, or governors, of two Kazakh regions were replaced, those implicated in the Rahat-gate scandal were stripped of their personal possessions and state decorations, and the information minister was dismissed

Power Putsch After an armed seizure, years of criminal investigations and millions of dollars in suspicious fines, U.S. power company AES Corp. is retreating from Kazakhstan--the latest American victim of cronyism in poor, resource-rich nations

Kazakhstan Remains Upbeat Despite Negative Credit Rating Standard & Poor’s credit rating for Kazakhstan has been downgraded from stable to negative, but economic chiefs in Astana remain resolutely upbeat despite rising inflation, stalled construction projects and a shaky global outlook

Kazakhstan Seeks Identity on the Big Screen 'I wanted to show that Kazakh history…is much deeper than we'd ever thought.' – Gulnara Sarsenova, cosmetic magnate and movie producer

Kazakh, Tajik Presidents Show Oil and Water Do Mix In return for closer ties with Kazakhstan, visiting Tajik President Imomali Rahmon has hinted at support for a Kazakh plan to form a Central Asian Union -- an idea also backed by Kyrgyzstan but soundly rejected by Astana's main regional rival, Uzbekistan, and unlikely to please Russia city south of Siberia

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