''Development of infrastructure of 'Western Europe-Western China' highway to ensure new jobs''

read more from gazeta...

''Kazakhstan can be either from the rail or otherwise a link between east and west. It touches Russia, it touches China which are probably the two significant economies in this part. It has challenges in maintaining its identity in that process and makes it certain that indeed its interests are protected. But its huge opportunity whether it natural resources to either supplying or develop those sectors and at the same time be a bridge between east and west. If you look at goods moving between those economies in Europe Kazakhstan will be a key link in terms of the routes of trade.''

'Kazakhstan in Time'

from registan..........

"That last bit about the opportunism of ‘the Middle Kingdom’ rings untrue for me. China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, anyone? And what about Russia? Not concerned what they do with the oil and gas they pull in from the Central Asian Republics?

In that year [2009] alone, Beijing lavished $10 billion in financing on Kazakhstan, helping build roads, railways and telecommunications networks. This spring, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, began work on a $1 billion expansion of the Atyrau oil refinery. Chinese firms now control roughly one-quarter of Kazakhstan’s oil production. Some of it flows to China via a pipeline that gives Beijing a crucial alternative to the Strait of Malacca choke point through which most of its oil imports must pass. The pipeline, which is expected to carry 20 million tons of oil a year by 2013, stretches from western Kazakhstan and tunnels through the Tian Shan Mountains to Xinjiang, the fractious, Muslim-majority autonomous region in northwestern China"..........READ MORE

'Kazakhstan’s Balancing Act'

from foreignpolicyjournal............

"Kazakhstan has become the most developed country in Central Asia over the past decade as a result of its rapid oil-driven growth and pragmatic foreign policy. President Nazarbayev has skilfully balanced the country’s diverse range of interests and maintained a sensible equilibrium between Kazakhstan’s two most significant international partners—Russia and the U.S.—whose interests compete in the region. 


While Russia has an historical and geographic comparative advantage, Kazakhstan’s relations with the U.S. are significant and growing. Nazarbayev has balanced relations between Russia and the U.S. by sending cheap oil to Russia and becoming an integral part of Washington’s War on Terror"............LINK