French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Kazakhstan yesterday for a swing through the energy-rich state expected to yield billions of dollars in space, energy and defense contracts for French firms.
The visit, the first by a French president to Astana, is being touted as the culmination of a two-year diplomatic push aimed at securing French companies a larger role in Central Asia’s largest economy. In the largest deal the Spie Capag consortium, owned by construction giant Vinci, is expected to net a 1.2 billion euro (US$1.75 billion) contract to build a pipeline for Kazakhstan’s massive Kashagan oil field.
The pipeline will be part of a transport system to bring Kazakh oil to Europe, which analysts say would most likely take the form of tanker shipments across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, without transiting Russia.
Oil giant Total and GDF Suez are also expected to formalize a venture worth 1 billion euros (US$1.5 billion) to develop the Khvalinskoye gas field in the Caspian Sea.
Kazakhstan, ruled since its independence by strongman President Nursultan Nazarbayev, has long been courted by the West for its natural resource reserves and strategic position vis a vis neighbors China and Russia.
Although Sarkozy is expected to praise the ex-Soviet state as an island of stability in a volatile region, the trip comes at an awkward time as international criticism mounts over Kazakhstan’s spotty human rights record.
Kazakhstan is set in January to become the first former Soviet state to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Human Rights Watch called on Sarkozy to press them to implement promised reforms.
Most notably, the New York-based watchdog asked him to raise the case of activist Yevgeniy Zhovtis, sentenced to four years in prison in September for a traffic accident that resulted in a man’s death.
The US and OSCE have both criticized the conduct of the trial, raising questions about its fairness and the impartiality of the judge.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of