Kazakhs allow French arms transit

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- France and energy-rich Kazakhstan have signed an agreement allowing military hardware bound for French troops in Afghanistan to pass through Kazakh territory.

The agreement, overseen by French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a brief trip to Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, was part of a raft of energy and business deals worth $6 billion and signed between France and Kazakhstan Tuesday.

Strategically situated between China and Russia -- long the dominant regional force -- Kazakhstan is Central Asia's largest economy and riddled with oil and gas fields.

It has been courted by several countries in the West for access to its oil and gas fields.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said the agreement to transit French military supplies through his country would also carry military personnel to aid French forces serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan.

"We need Kazakhstan to resolve the crisis in Afghanistan and in Iran, and to establish new relations with our friends in Russia," Sarkozy was quoted as saying by local media after meeting with his Kazakh counterpart.

Officials from both sides had been negotiating the military transit deal for nearly two years. The agreement covers both air and rail transit of French arms and military personnel via Kazakhstan. Train traffic can then go through neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan where France already holds a military foothold.

A similar deal was clinched recently by the United States. Under that deal supplies would be pushed through Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to fighting forces in Afghanistan.

The United States had also agreed with Kyrgyzstan to continue using its Manas air base as part of ongoing operations to crack down on Taliban rebels.

Military support agreements like these afford NATO with an important alternative to Pakistan, where supply convoys bound for Afghanistan by road have been repeatedly targeted by rebel insurgents.

Of the deals, however, that France and Kazakhstan signed, the biggest came between Total and GDF Suez and the Kazakh energy firm Kazmunaigaz to develop the Khvalynskoye Caspian Sea gas field.

The French firms are taking a 25 percent stake while Kazmunaigaz retains 25 percent. The other 50 percent is owned by Russian energy giant Lukoil.

"Total chief executive Christophe de Margerie said on the sidelines of the signing ceremony that the field could produce 8-9 billion cubic meters of gas annually once it becomes operational from 2016," the Taiwan News reported.

The business deals come despite criticisms from rights groups and international activists over Kazakhstan's lagging human rights record.

Kazakhstan is set to become the first former Soviet Republic to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an international organization focusing on trans-Atlantic security.