News Roundup - October 8, 2007

International Herald Tribune: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan Sign Agreement Moving Closer to Customs Union
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan moved a step closer to a long-delayed customs and trade union on Saturday…
The Moscow Times: Unhappiness With Moscow Sours CIS Summit
Discontent over Russia’s continued domination of former Soviet republics soured a summit of their leaders, with Kazakhstan announcing plans to form an economic grouping without Moscow and Tbilisi refusing to sign an amended CIS treaty…
International Herald Tribune: Italian PM Holds Talks in Kazakhstan as Eni-Led Energy Consortium Hits Trouble
Italy’s prime minister met with top officials in Kazakhstan Monday on a visit that comes amid a dispute between the oil-rich Central Asian nation and an international consortium led by Italy’s Eni SpA…

The Moscow Times: Kazakhs Rebuff Hedge Funds
Kazakhstan’s central bank said Friday that it was capable of stabilizing the country’s banking system after what it called a “speculative attack” by large hedge funds…
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: Central Asia: Kazakh, Russian Leaders Discuss Transport Corridor

Ahead of the CIS summit in Dushanbe this weekend, the presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia — who meet frequently — met again in the Russian city of Novosibirsk to attend the Forum of Leaders of Border Regions…
United Press International: Analysis: Russia Eyes Central Asian Gas
Since 1991 the United States and Russia have been involved in a conflict to exploit the Caspian’s vast energy reserves. Now, however, Moscow seems to be gaining the upper hand by proposing an agenda with neighboring Kazakhstan that could see the issue of Caspian energy exports westward largely dominated by Russia for the next three to five decades…
United Press International: Central Asia’s Last Oil, Gas Frontier
While Western attention in the search for hydrocarbons in the Commonwealth of Independent States has until now focused largely on the Caspian Sea, the race is heating up to exploit Central Asia’s last significant body of water, the Aral Sea…
Oil and Gas Eurasia: Kazakhstan Key for Mideast Oil & Gas Sub Sector’s International Expansion Says GMMOS Group
GCC oil & gas service providers have the opportunity to gain much from Kazakhstan’s burgeoning sector and vast untapped natural resources despite a recent law designed to empower the government annul contracts with major IOCs in its bid to improve revenues stemming from exploration and production activities in the country, according to a Dubai industry source…
The Huffington Post: The Well-Connected Dictator
This is about Nursultan Nazarbayev, the brutal and corrupt dictator of Kazakhstan and friend of politicians in high places, including three current and past U.S. presidents, Dick Cheney, presidential candidates from both parties, and heads of state everywhere…
EurasiaNet Civil Society: Ethnic Kazakhs to Ponder Future Amid Tourism Boom
The Chinese province of Xinjiang is often in the news, with most media reports examining the independence aspirations of its Uighur population, as well as the Go West policy of populating the region with Han Chinese. There is another, less reported story in Xinjiang — the erosion of ethnic Kazakh culture…
EurasiaNet Insight: CIS Minister Wrestle with Labor Migration Problem
Labor migration was high on the agenda of a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) foreign ministers’ meeting today in the Tajik capital. Participants reportedly are nearing agreement on deals to address the continuing problem of illegal labor migration, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports…
FNArena: Kazakhstan, The Potassium Whale?
azakhstan may be the world’s leading producer of potassium (the best according to Sacha Ben Cohen’s alter ego Borat) but the country may soon attract a lot more attention as rising problems for the country’s leading banks now suggest Kazakhstan could become the first victim among emerging countries of the global credit squeeze…
Daily Times: Kazakh Rate Spike Driven by Forex Speculation
Speculative demand for the tenge currency from foreign investors has prompted a fresh spike in Kazakhstan’s money market rates, dealers said on Friday…