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Eurasia
January 19, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 22
the Kazakh capital of Astana.
But the meeting of the presidents, at least of- ficially, stayed away from the topic of Russia as far as possible. Instead the two sides pledged to strengthen cooperation under the Enhanced Stra- tegic Partnership Dialogue framework, the C5+1 (five Central Asia countries plus the US) partner- ship, and related projects. They also discussed the fourth Five Year Plan for Military Cooperation between the US Department of Defense and the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan and the ex- Soviet nation’s interest in joining the Cybercrime Convention.
The primary reason behind Trump’s decision to meet Nazarbayev may have related to Kazakh- stan’s ambassador to the UN, Kairat Umarov. He took over the rotating presidency of the UN Se- curity Council on January 1. Umarov has already overseen debates concerning the outbreak of demonstrations across Iran, among other issues. Trump’s focus during the meeting on Kazakh- stan’s role in providing logistical support for US troops fighting in Afghanistan was largely in line with Kazakhstan’s commitments to the security
council and Nazarbayev’s goal of burnishing his country’s image as a successful breakout nation.
With a concluding flourish rounding off the visit, Nazarbayev said on January 17 that Kazakhstan has reached agreements with several US com- panies worth a total of $7.5bn. The deals include contracts to supply Boeing passenger planes and General Electric locomotives to the Central Asian nation as well as investments in Kazakhstan’s agricultural sector.
The timing of the meeting also happened to co- incide with an earlier decision by the US-based Bank of New York Mellon to freeze 40% of the assets of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund as part of a legal dispute between the Kazakh gov- ernment and a Moldovan businessman. The row, while unrelated to Kazakhstan’s relations with the US, paints Nazarbayev’s government as corrupt and racketeering, something which does not bode well either for Nazarbayev’s perennial Kazakhstan PR campaign or for Trump’s reputation as a presi- dent who critics say has a knack for associating with corrupt ex-Soviet politicians and a fondness for dictators.