News Roundup - July 24, 2007

Eurasia Insight: New Architecture Reflects Rising Prosperity
As its energy-driven economy matures, Kazakhstan is paying increasing attention to aesthetic appeal. Elite Western architects are now busy giving Kazakhstan a make-over, both in the public and private sectors…
The Washington Post: Before Elections, Kazakhstan Does a Little Campaigning
If you’re an ex-commie dictator looking to burnish your image, it’s probably a good thing to make extra sure that the international community thinks your country’s parliamentary elections next month are fairly run. It surely makes sense that Nursultan Nazarbayev, ruler of oil- and gas-rich Kazakhstan since just before it broke from the Soviet Union in 1991, would want to get the “right” people on the monitoring group, which is being run by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe…
CNN Money: Global Payments Europe Expands to Kazakhstan With Home Credit
Global Payments Inc. , a world leader in electronic transaction processing services, announced today that its Prague-based, wholly-owned subsidiary, Global Payments Europe, s.r.o., has entered into an agreement to provide payment card processing services to another member of Home Credit Group — Home Credit Kazakhstan…
Eurasia Daily Monitor: Transneft Squeezing Oil Majors in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium
The U.S. companies Chevron and ExxonMobil are among the targets of Russian extortion on this 1,580 kilometer pipeline, which was built mainly with U.S. capital and technology to carry oil from Kazakhstan to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk…
Forbes: Kazakhstan Kagazy IPO Priced at 5 USD per GDR
Kazakh industrial group Kazakhstan Kagazy said its initial public offering (IPO) in London has been priced at 5 usd per global depositary receipt, valuing the company at 490 mln usd on flotation…