Between Emmanuel Macron and Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev, it has become an end-of-year custom. With the honors of a state visit, the French president received his Kazakh counterpart in Paris on Tuesday, November 5. “For a spectacular strengthening of our relations,” We promise it in the Elysée. “Comprehensive development! “, a Kazakh diplomatic source is equally enthusiastic.
A year after Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Astana, the opulent capital built in the middle of the steppe, Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev found the two Kazakh greyhounds that he had given him at the time in the Elysian gardens. Since then, after a tumultuous start far from the steppes, Jules and Jeanne have adapted to Parisian life and appeared, on Tuesday, at the feet of the two presidents, wise and obedient. “Canine diplomacy…”Emmanuel Macron’s entourage jokes.
Several agreements and contracts were closed on Tuesday, including one with Alstom for the supply of electric locomotives. But, above all, Kazakhstan, five times larger than France and with only 20 million inhabitants, attracts due to its wealth in raw materials. The former Soviet republic, the most economically powerful country in Central Asia, It supplies France with almost 40% of its uranium. Paris, which over the years has intensified its cooperation in the nuclear field, hopes that EDF will be chosen by Astana for the construction of its first nuclear power plant. “The road is long, the momentum is good”whispers a senior French diplomat. But no agreement has been signed.
“Increasingly dependent on Moscow”
After the referendum that, in October, paved the way for the resumption of civil nuclear energy despite the trauma caused by the health damage caused by the Soviet tests, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev promised that the future nuclear power plant will be entrusted to an international consortium. Chinese and South Korean competitors are in the race. But the main contender is Rosatom, the Russian giant, the Kremlin’s nuclear arm. “As is often the case with Kazakhs, the solution will be complicated. Everyone will have a participation within the consortium. But, as always, the Russians will have final control.warns Vera Grantseva, Kazakhstan expert at Sciences Po. Because it is a fact: Astana is increasingly dependent on Moscow. »
Since January 2022, Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev has had to count on the support, political but above all military, of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin to quell violent clashes on a scale unprecedented in three decades of post-Soviet independence, the Kazakh president attempted. show his autonomy in relation to his older Russian brother.
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