VZCZCXRO6938
OO RUEHIK
DE RUEHTA #2090/01 3280927
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 240927Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6911
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE 2189
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2259
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1558
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 1193
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFAAA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC 1748
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC 1603
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2598
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 2896

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 002090 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, SCA/A, SRAP, EUR/RPM, DRL 
 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EAID OSCE AF KZ
SUBJECT:  ALL IN A DAY'S WORK:  KAZAKHSTANI FOREIGN MINISTER IN 
KABUL TO ANNOUNCE AID PACKAGE, PITCH OSCE SUMMIT 
 
ASTANA 00002090  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  On November 22, State Secretary-Foreign Minister 
Kanat Saudabayev traveled to Kabul to discuss bilateral cooperation 
with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and unveil Kazakhstan's 2009-2011 
assistance package.  Saudabayev also met with Afghanistan's Foreign 
Minister, Dr. Rangin Dadfar-Spanta, and the Special Envoy of the UN 
Secretary-General to Afghanistan, Kai Eide.  The Foreign Ministers 
signed an intergovernmental education agreement for Kazakhstan to 
train 1,000 Afghan specialists in five years.  Kazakhstan's Chairman 
of the Foreign Ministry's Committee for International Information, 
Roman Vasilenko, told Charge November 23 that the short -- but 
productive -- visit especially advanced the bilateral relationship 
in the areas of commercial development and educational ties. 
Vasilenko, who traveled with the State Secretary, said that both 
President Karzai and Foreign Minister Spanta enthusiastically 
supported Kazakhstan's proposal for an OSCE summit.  With Afghan 
leaders' endorsement of a 2010 OSCE summit and conclusion of an 
education deal, which could add substance to the proposal, Post 
expects MFA will increase its already concerted effort to secure a 
summit.  END SUMMARY. 
 
THE OFFICIAL VERSION OF THE DAY IN KABUL 
 
¶3.  (U) According to the press, Foreign Minister Saudabayev 
delivered President Nursultan Nazarbayev's congratulatory message on 
his inauguration to Afghan President Hamed Karzai.  Nazarbayev also 
reportedly confirmed Kazakhstan's intention to strengthen bilateral 
cooperation, and provide assistance with stabilization and 
development.  Saudabayev highlighted mutually-beneficial 
opportunities to enhance economic and commercial relations through 
increased Kazakhstani participation in natural reserve and 
infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, and promotion of Kazakhstani 
grain imports.  Foreign Ministers Saudabayev and Spanta signed a $50 
million intergovernmental education agreement -- reportedly 
Nazarbayev's personal initiative -- under which Kazakhstan will 
train medical workers, teachers, engineers, and specialists in law 
enforcement, border security, and agriculture.  During the meeting 
with the UN Special Envoy, Saudabayev discussed cooperation to 
stabilize Afghanistan and coordination on Afghanistan-related issues 
during Kazakhstan's chairmanship of the Organization for Security 
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). 
 
EVEN THE AFGHAN EMBASSY IN ASTANA KEPT IN SUSPENSE 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In the days preceding the visit, Kazakhstan's Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs was uncharacteristically tight-lipped.  As of 
November 20 -- the last full working day before the visit -- they 
refused to disclose details of the aid package even to the Afghan 
Embassy in Astana.  (COMMENT:  PolOff's interlocutor at the Afghan 
Embassy, Second Secretary Siddiqullah Noori, noted his embassy's 
occasional frustration about the exclusive coordination that occurs 
directly between the Kazakhstani Embassy in Kabul and the MFA in 
Astana, leaving the embassy in Astana "out of the loop."  END 
COMMENT.)  Noori, who prior to his 2006 arrival in Astana worked at 
the Foreign Ministry in Kabul with investors and NGOs, expressed 
gratitude for Kazakhstan's previous assistance.  While he welcomed 
the student aid package, he asserted the difficulty of finding 
opportunities for Kazakhstani-Afghan economic cooperation outside of 
the extractive sectors -- particularly mining.  A potential 
logistical challenge to the education deal previously highlighted by 
the MFA is flight arrangements for the students.  According to 
Noori, however, Kazakhstan has started weekly direct flights from 
Almaty to Kabul, and flights from Kabul to Almaty "when there are 
enough people to justify a flight." 
 
SAUDABAYEV FOCUSED ON SUMMIT 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Following the visit, long-time Embassy contact and 
Chairman of the Foreign Ministry's Committee for International 
Information, Roman Vasilenko, told the Charge that Saudabayev 
congratulated President Karzai on his new mandate and focused on 
 
ASTANA 00002090  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
bilateral issues during their opening meeting.  He also achieved his 
main goal -- an enthusiastic endorsement for Kazakhstan's bid to 
hold an OSCE summit on Afghanistan during its 2010 Chairmanship of 
the OSCE.  However, Vasilenko offered no details on specific summit 
issues of interest to the Afghans.  In his brief meeting with 
Foreign Minister Spanta, Vasilenko said Kazakhstan's Foreign 
Minister again pressed -- and won enthusiastic support for -- a 2010 
OSCE summit on Afghanistan.  Otherwise, the meeting mainly focused 
on the need for strengthened bilateral trade.  (NOTE:  According to 
official statistics, Kazakhstan exported more than $617 million of 
goods to Afghanistan in 2008, including large amounts of grain.  END 
NOTE.)  Saudabayev lobbied for increased participation of 
Kazakhstani firms in Afghanistan's market, particularly in the 
natural resource and agricultural sectors. 
 
PROVIDE FISHING RODS, NOT FISH 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In Saudabayev's final meeting with Special Envoy of the UN 
Secretary-General to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, Vasilenko said 
Saudabayev discussed ways to expand Kazakhstani participation in UN 
projects.  Saudabayev also again discussed the OSCE summit proposal. 
 In response, Eide, a former Norwegian Ambassador to the OSCE, 
asserted that Kazakhstan should focus on Afghanistan's needs in 
building its summit agenda.  He told Saudabayev that it was 
important to "provide fishing rods, not fish," by working with the 
government of Afghanistan to determine its need as Kazakhstan 
develops its 2010 summit proposals.  Saudabayev fully concurred, 
adding that "it is not possible for the family to be happy, unless 
the head of household is pleased." 
 
KAZAKHSTAN UPBEAT ABOUT PRODUCTIVE VISIT 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Vasilenko confirmed that the visit's centerpiece was the 
education agreement, signed by Saudabayev and Spanta, which annually 
will bring 200 university and graduate students to Kazakhstan over 
the period 2010-2018.  In total, Kazakhstan plans to educate more 
than 1,000 students.  Vasilenko asserted that sufficient 
institutional memory remains from Kazakhstan's Soviet experience in 
educating Afghan (and Vietnamese) students for the Ministry of 
Education to successfully implement the program and resolve 
logistical challenges, such as the issue of language training.  He 
said the Afghan government will identify and supply the students -- 
with a focus on technical fields, including engineering, agriculture 
and medicine -- and Kazakhstan will pay their expenses.  Vasilenko 
said they did not discuss the issue of transportation.  Vasilenko -- 
and the Afghan Embassy -- have promised to send a copy of the 
education agreement. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Vasilenko called the visit's atmosphere 
"positive and productive throughout" and highlighted the strong 
press interest in Kabul related to the education program.  The 
Foreign Ministry appears to hope that conclusion of its long-planned 
Afghan education program will give its OSCE summit idea more 
substance.  Now that the State Secretary has won the endorsement of 
Afghanistan's leaders for the idea, especially if focused in part on 
Afghanistan, Post expects an even more determined MFA effort to 
bring doubters around.  END COMMENT. 
 
SPRATLEN