Official Statements:

President Nursultan Nazarbayev

Received Participants of the Caspian Energy Hub Project

Board Chairman of Gulf Finance House Esam Y. Janahi and Chairman and CEO of PFC Energy International Vahan Zanoyan informed the President on the project’s features.

The Caspian Energy Hub is going to be established in Aktau on the Caspian Sea coast. The project’s goal is to participate in the development of human resources in Kazakhstan and its economy by means of establishing a center of oil and gas industries in the Caspian region.

It is planned to establish a large center for training technical personnel and hiring staff for oil companies, which will include science and technology parks, laboratories of geophysical data, centers of information technologies, centers for studying environment and renewable energy sources.

“The President has approved this project. Our Kazakhstani partners will be Fund of Sustainable Development - Kazyna, State Holding -Samruk and Mangistau region’s office of governor,” Chairman and CEO of PFC Energy International Vahan Zanoyan said at a press briefing.

The Board Chairman of Gulf Finance House said that the companies had implemented such projects in Qatar, India and Lebanon.

“The Kazakhstani project is going to be implemented in 3-5 years. The total amount of investments will be equal to 10 billion dollars,” Esam Y. Janahi noted.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev Met Vice President –

Senate Chairman of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari

The sides discussed a variety of issues of bilateral cooperation in the areas of economy, trade, political interaction, strengthening of inter-parliamentary ties, transfer of new technologies and science.

“Political dialogue between our countries develops very effectively. It is possible to underscore our cooperation within the framework of international organizations and multifaceted structures such as the Conference on Confidence Building Measures in Asia, ASEAN and Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Nursultan Nazarbayev said.

On his turn, the Vice President – Senate Chairman of the Republic of India noted that people in India very well know about economic progress and international initiatives of Kazakhstan, which are being implemented under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

“Now under your leadership, Kazakhstan plays a very important role in regional and international policies,” Mohammad Hamid Ansari underscored.

During the negotiations, the participants also touched issues of intensifying cooperation in oil and gas industry including the issue of the Satpaev oil field on the Caspian Sea.

The sides also underscored the necessity of broadening bilateral interaction in the area of information technologies, tourism, and military-technical cooperation. A number of Indian companies already work in the technology park in the city of Almaty.

The sides supported the idea of strengthening cultural humanitarian contacts, primarily in the area of education and science, which could be implemented in the form of student exchanges and scientific internships.

The potential of cooperation in the area of investments and banking is still to be engaged. The sides expressed their readiness to deepen ties between the two countries in this area.

India has a very valuable experience in building democratic institutes. In this regard, strengthening of ties between the Parliaments of the two countries is very interesting to Kazakhstan.

The sides confirmed their mutual support of foreign policy initiatives of the two countries. Nursultan Nazarbayev invited Mohammad Hamid Ansari who contributes much to maintaining inter-confessional accord in India to take part in the III Congress of world and traditional religions, which will be held in Astana in 2009.

Under a commission of Kazakhstan’s President,

PM Karim Massimov met Leader Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China

In the Chinese city of Sanya, Kazakhstan’s PM Karim Massimov met Leader Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China under a respective commission of President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan.

The sides discussed issues of bilateral cooperation in various realms, notably O&G, finance, and agriculture. They also dwelt on prospects of mutual investments and joint implementation of non-extraction projects in the territories of both states.

In the course of the meeting Hu Jintao expressed his gratitude to the people and the Leader of Kazakhstan for the ceremony held in Almaty to launch the Olympic torch relay. “The Kazakh side did a great job to arrange the launch of the relay, and I am expressing my deep gratitude to the people and my sincere respect for President Nursultan Nazarbayev”, Hu Jintao said.

Besides, he invited Kazakhstan’s President to participate in the solemn ceremony to inaugurate the 2008 summer Olympic Games and expressed hope that during the visit they could have a bilateral meeting.

In conclusion, Head of the People's Republic of China assured that his country’s leadership is ready to exert best efforts to further develop strategic partnership with Kazakhstan in the vein of neighbourliness and friendship. “We are ready to strengthen interaction at both regional and global levels”, Hu Jintao said.

Kazakhstan and China sign a raft of agreements

Following bilateral talks, Heads of Governments of Kazakhstan and China attended a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to sign a number of agreements.

Kazakhstan’s PM and his Chinese counterpart Prime Minister Wen Jiabao issued a joint communiqué; Kazakhstan’s Industry and Trade Minister Vladimir Shkolnik and Yu Guangzhou, Vice Minister of Commerce of China, signed a Plan of actions complementing the Program of cooperation between the Governments of Kazakhstan and China in non-extraction sectors.

In the presence of the two Prime-Ministers, an agreement on soft lending [to Kazakhstan] was signed by Mukan Sagindykov, Chairman of the Bank for Kazakhstan Development, and Chairman of the China's Export-Import Bank, Li Ruogu; while Chairman of KazAgro Alikhan Smailov and Yu Xubo, COFCO president, signed a memorandum on cooperation to supply Kazakh grain to China.

Erlan Upushev, President of the Kazakhstan’s Samruk-Energo JSC, and Zhai Ruoyu, Chairman and President of China Datang Corporation, signed a memorandum to expand cooperation in electric power supplies. Besides, Urazaly Kantayev, Director General of Moinak hydro-electric power station, and Lu Guojun, Head of the China International Water & Electric Corp., signed an agreement to construct and place into operation major facilities of the Moinak hydro-electric power station at the Charyn River.