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Putin arrives in Kazakstan for two-day visit

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October 10, 2000 

ALMATY, Kazakstan (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived on Monday in the Kazak capital Astana for a two-day official visit expected to focus on trade and Central Asian security.

Putin's agenda was to include discussion of a possible joint venture to transport Kazak natural gas through Russia to Western export markets.

Kazakstan's current gas production is small but the country has huge reserves in the Tengiz oil field in the west and the Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea. However, Kazakstan needs access to Russia's pipeline network to reach European consumers.

Anatoly Chubais, the head of Russia's Unified Energy Systems electricity monopoly, met in Astana with Kazak Prime Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev to discuss another joint venture, the Ekibastuz thermal power station.

Chubais said it would be "a breakthrough in the two countries' fuel and energy complex," the Interfax news agency reported.

Putin was also expected to discuss the Islamic insurgencies facing several Central Asian nations, and the upsurge in fighting in nearby Afghanistan. He was scheduled to travel to the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Wednesday for a meeting of the collective security council of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose grouping of former Soviet republics.