By Marat Yermukanov, Kazakhstan (10/23/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The genesis of the oil boom in Kazakhstan can be traced back to 1993, when Kazakh government and the American Chevron Corporation signed a landmark $20 billion contract, unanimously dubbed at home and abroad as "the deal of the century", to develop the Tenghiz oilfield jointly. Very few optimists could have thought at the time that the highflying joint venture would be generously rewarded for the risks taken within a decade. Foreign investors, despite all sorts of bureaucratic hurdles and ill-disguised pressure from the government of Kazakhstan, are stepping up production.

By Marat Yermukanov, Kazakhstan (12/18/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The population of Kazakhstan had a good cause to mark on December 16 the eleventh year of the independence of the country with an optimistic mood. Many of the economic and social ills, such as non-payment of wages, the closure of enterprises, huge arrears of pensions, and unbridled inflation which pestered the country in the first half of the nineties, now belong to the past. The prospect looks bright in many areas.

By Dr.Zahid Anwar, Assistant Professor, Area Study Center, University of Peshawar, Pakistan (12/18/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Pakistan and Russian Federation are two important countries of Asia and with entering into cordial, friendly and trustworthy relations with each other; both states could ensure an era of peace, progress and prosperity in the region. The Pakistan-Russian relations have been marred by unfounded misunderstandings, which to a considerable extent still haunt the minds of foreign policy makers in both countries. In the changed international scenario, Pakistan and the Russian Federation should come up with renewed zeal and zest, forgetting Cold War bitterness and should actively cooperate with each other in economic, social and science and technology sectors.