Operation Kazakhstan: France’s new El Dorado

Fortunately for the economy, some dictatorships are still showing strong stability instead of following North Africa’s lead. Paris is focusing its politics and industry on the autocrats in Central Asia, notably Kazakhstan. The largest and richest dictatorial regime in the region enjoys uranium and oil deposits which allure France. For several months, French politicians and the transport industry have been working with Kazakhstan to equip the country to fully use its natural resources…and according to the priorities decided in the Elysée.

By Wikimedia Commons

In a letter dated July 3, 2009, Nicolas Sarkozy addressed his Kazakhstani counterpart President Noursoultan Nazarbaiev  [PDF]. We were sent a copy of a letter in which the president of France listed his sales pitch in frank terms:

• The construction of a tramway between Astana and Alstom

• The choice of a CFM-56 Safran engine for Air Astana’s Airbus

• The construction of a water treatment plant in Astana assembled by Suez-Degremont

• A general “partnership” between Areva and Kazakhstan

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This “shopping” organized by France’s president concluded in lengthy bartering with the shopkeeper. According to an email correspondence, the letter was drafted by Lyes Ben Chedli, a Tunisian business man. Contacted by OWNI, he does not deny that Nazarbaiev and Claude Gueant (The Secretary General of the Elysée) are frequent advisers in his projects.

To date, several commercial requests were fulfilled. Other business activities are pending after they were commissioned by the official unveiling of the Strategic Partnership Treaty between the two countries on August 25. In February, the mayor of Astana gave his approval for Alstom to construct a tramway through the state. The new Secretary of Transport Thierry Mariani believes work will start in Kazakhstan by the end of February.

Thierry Mariani: The main lobbyist in Astana

Thierry Mariani (right)

We met him in his office, built about two months ago on Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris. Inside, the bookcase shelves are filled with taxidermic decor. The man is celebrated as the connoisseur of Kazakhstan’s strategic interests. Mariani is married to France’s UMP party, but he also aligns himself with Nazarbaiev’s autocratic Nour-Otan party. The two political groups have signed an “agreement to exchange experiences.” While Thierry Mariani was a member of the parliament, he presided over the  the Groupe d’amitié France-Kazakhstan (The group for Friendship between France and Kazakhstan) from 2006 to 2010.

As a member of parliament, he had visited the country several times, although he admits he went “twice with Astrium” [Part of EADS] to defend their business interests. He recounts a lunch he had with his boss, Francois Auque, during which he realized the strategic importance of this country. Geographically,  it’s at a junction with China and Russia and boarders the Caspian sea. This is a blessing for the Elysée.

On an official visit to Paris on October 27, President Nazarbaiev signed a contract with Astrium for the construction of an integration and testing center which will develop the first Kazakhstani space craft. The following day, France’s official journal published the treaty which governs the new space cooperation project.

That night, Nazarbaiev clinked glasses with Claude Gueant and the businessman from Total, Suez, and Alstom in the rooms at the Evreux hotel in Paris. The champagne was paid by EADS and Eurocopter. Earlier, Astrium sold two engines in Astana – named DZZ-1 and DZZ-2 – which are equipped will military applications. “How our customers use these products is not our responsibility,” remarks Patrice Lanversin, the communications director at Astrium.

The Kazakhstan Lobby

EADS’s success can not just be explained by France’s choice to acquire new equipment, because the company Thales also proposed a competing solution. EADS has a discrete network of consultants and advocates who were responsible for lobbying on decision-makers in Astana. For Astrium, this network was built around a small consulting firm in Paris. The firm, MH SAS, is headed by Marie-Helene Berard, the former adviser to Jacques Chirac and the former director of CFF responsible for investments in Eastern countries. She confirms MH SAS’ role in this issue:

The support I provided for Astrium was not a first for me. I visited Kazakhstan in 1990 for the first time. In the case of Astrium’s satellites, the first contacts date back to 2006, so this has been going on for four years. The authorities in Kazakhstan have consulted and considered several proposal (…) before making their decision.

Promoted to the position of Commander in the Legions of Honor on January 30, 2008, Marie-Helene Berard has successfully gathered the support of important people around her office. According to the MHB SAS website, the company had a strategic committee which was headed by Dominique Strauss-Khan, the managing director of the IMF. Marie-Helene Berard claims that his presence was not associated with any financial consideration.

A few days after making this point, she remembered that in reality “Dominique Strauss-Khan’s name should have been removed from the website after his appointment to the IMF” on November 1, 2007, because he no longer wished to participate in the committee’s strategy. Yet the webpage seems to have been created in 2008, after his appointment to the IMF.

Astana, a rapidly developing capital

Playing the networking game: Thales and the French Communist Party

Thales, the main competition for EADS, also mobilizes a network of influence in Kazakhstan. Thanks to this lobbying, Thales is expected to sign a contract by spring for manufacturing a secure communications system for the local authorities. This is not just a consolation prize for the company, who left the satellite market.

Thales’ networks are run by the company Cifal (A France and German commerical textile industry). A specialist broker in Eastern Europe based in Paris, it is now headed by Gilles Remy. This businessman met Vladimir Putin in the early 1990s, well before his accession to power.

He explained that in today’s market the actions of his company in Kazakhstan particularly depend on Asia Gulf Services, a company in Dubai which Cifal owns 8%. A SME located in the UAE, it is directed by Matthew Mitterrand (The son of the current Minister of Culture in France). During a phone conversation, Matthew Mitterrand confirmed that he does assist Thales in Kazakhstan.

Senator Aymeri de Monstesquiou’s 80 trips

These enterprises’ interventions are relayed to the misters of Kazakhstan by French politicians who are responsible for providing onsite monitoring of trade issues and who sometimes consults with Cifal. This is the case with Senator Aymeri de Montesquiou, who “speaks regularly with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense to be kept on the loop on the status of certain files.” In a letter dated November 12, 2009, the Elysée has requested to create a mission to “promote our industrial and commercial interests” in Central Asia.

Boasting about nearly “80 trips to Kazakhstan” since 1993, Aymeri de Montesquiou recognizes that his efforts have greatly benefited Thales. There is an incentive link between himself and the company, he claims precisely:

I was more favorable towards Thales because it made a 100% French offer.

His missions are not just limited to defense contracts. Presented in Astana in January, the Senator is putting all his weight into the Kashagan offshore drilling project in the Caspian Sea (an Aladdin’s cave for the oil industry). The French company Entrepose, a regular partner of Total Group, is already circling the project.

According to the International Energy Agency, if Kazakhstan is fully exploited it will climb into the top 10 oil exporting countries by 2015. Note for everyone: just enter the numbers into the Excel spreadsheet and forget the rest. Servum pecus[FR].

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Photo Credits: CC FlickR by Gobierno de Aragón, Nicola Corboy

Find the Kazakhstan’s diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks

Translation: Stefanie Chernow