Bush nurtures close ties with Kazakhstan

Washington, Sept 29: When President George W Bush hosts Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the White House today, he will seek to bolster ties with an oil-producing Central Asian country that has lent Washington support on Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Bush, who has made promoting democracy a centerpiece of his foreign-policy agenda, faces a difficult balancing act with Nazarbayev, whose autocratic ways have been criticized by human rights groups.

Nazarbayev has held power since 1989, when Kazakhstan was still a Soviet Republic. He was elected for a third presidential term last December in a vote judged to be flawed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Washington has been only mildly critical of Kazakhstan's human rights record, despite allegations of corruption and the government's restrictions on the media and political opponents.

As a measure of the importance the Bush administration places on cultivating good relations with Kazakhstan, both Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the country in the past year.

In addition to talks in the Oval Office and a working lunch with Bush, Nazarbayev also was hosted at the Kennebunkport, Maine, estate of Bush's father, former President George Bush.

Rice has said the United States wants a ''multidimensional relationship with Kazakhstan,'' which she said includes encouraging political reforms.

Pressed on whether Bush would raise the democracy issue with Nazarbayev, White House spokesman Tony Snow said he did not know for certain but suggested it was likely.

''Typically at such meetings, the topic of democracy does come up,'' Snow said. ''I don't want to speak for the president in advance, but if history is any guide, it will come up.''

INTERESTS OF BOTH COUNTRIES

Martha Brill Olcott, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said close ties serve the interests of both countries and that Bush may avoid pressing the democracy issue too hard.

''Kazakhstan is not a democracy,'' Olcott said. But the country's rapid economic growth and other forces, she added, will lead to more openness, although the pace of change may be slower than the West would like to see.

US oil firms have invested heavily in Kazakhstan. The country, which stretches from the Caspian Sea to China, is expected to join the top 10 oil producers in a decade. The United States competes for influence there with Russia and China.

Kazakhstan allowed US overflights during the 2001 war to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan and also sent a team of engineers to clear land mines in Iraq.

As a sign of Kazakhstan's interest in raising its profile on the world stage, the country took out a four-page color advertisement in The New York Times before Nazarbayev's visit this week.

Kazakhstan has been lobbying hard to secure the chairmanship of the OSCE in 2009 and would like Washington's support. The United States has not indicated whether it will back that bid but some nations say Kazakhstan should do more to improve its human rights record first.

REUTERS