News Roundup

News Roundup - November 30, 2007

By SRI ⋅ November 30, 2007 ⋅

CACI Analyst: Kazakhstan claims political role in the Middle East

Nursultan Nazarbayev accentuated common religious values and historical cultural ties during his three-day visit to Syria and, more clearly than ever before, emphasized the increasingly pro-Arab stance of Astana in the Middle East conflict…

CACI Analyst: OSCE maintains role in Central Asia despite conflict with Russia

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is engaged in a bitter battle with Moscow. The OSCE has already abandoned its efforts to monitor the Duma elections in December and is struggling to obtain Russian permission to observe the March 2008 presidential elections…

CACI Analyst: Genghiz Khan and movies in Central Asia

Several movies on Genghis Khan and related themes have recently appeared in Eurasian countries. Each of them, and especially the response to them by the general public, indicates geopolitical shifts in Eurasia, as well as the desire of the ethnic Russian elite to play a leading role in the Russian Federation and, possibly, in the entire post-Soviet space…

The Oil and the Glory: Bush creating new position of senior envoy for Russia, Caspian

Thomas Pickering, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia and among the country’s most respected statesmen, has been asked to return to the State Department as a special envoy with a broad portfolio in the Eurasian region, according to people with whom I’ve been talking…

AFP: Russia, Kazakhstan in focus at annual European security meeting

The OSCE gathers in Madrid Thursday for its annual meeting which will focus on Kazakhstan’s bid to chair the security watchdog and Russia’s threat to pull out of a key arms control pact…

RIA Novosti: Russia’s RusAl creates coal and energy JV in Kazakhstan

Russia’s aluminum giant United Company RusAl said on Thursday it had agreed with Kazakhstan’s state holding company Samruk on the establishment of a joint venture for coal production in the Central Asian state…

Hemscott: UC Rusal and Samruk to establish Kazakh coal and energy joint venture

United Company Rusal (UC Rusal) said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Samruk Holding to establish a joint venture that will develop coal mines in Kazakhstan’s Pavlodar region and also undertake projects in the energy sector…

Oil & Gas Eurasia: Kazakhstan drafts list of strategic hydrocarbon projects

A list of oil and gas licenses “having strategic significance” in Kazakhstan is being drafted by the country’s energy ministry, a source in the ministry said. The listed oil and gas licenses would be subject to the new law on subsoil use, which allows Kazakhstan to unilaterally terminate or demand amendments to contracts with energy companies…

Guardian Unlimited: Kazakh port revamp offers more grain export routes

Kazakhstan will this year export 200,000 tonnes of grain through its revamped port of Aktau on the Caspian Sea, with shipments rising to 300,000 tonnes in 2008, the state-owned grain exporter said on Thursday…

Mineweb: Frontier acquires 50% interest in Benkala, Kazakhstan

Frontier Mining Ltd (”Frontier” or “the Company”), the AIM listed Kazakhstan focused gold mining and exploration company, is pleased to announce that it has today completed its acquisition of a 50% interest in a joint venture company with rights to the Benkala copper-molybdenum-gold deposit located in northwestern Kazakhstan…

Mineweb: Central Asia Resources releases drilling results from Kepken gold prospect, Kazakhstan

Results of a further five holes were returned recently, increasing the total number returned to 31 drill holes for 4,419.6m at the Kepken prospect. The final 11 holes of the 42 hole program have been drilled and samples collected and dispatched, with results pending from the Alex Stewart laboratory in Kyrgyzstan…

The Moscow Times: Kazakh grain exports fall short

Kazakhstan will fall short of its planned 1 million tons of grain exports in November because of a shortage of rail wagons and extra charges on cargoes transiting Ukraine, senior government officials said Thursday…