French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to "accelerate cooperation" with Kazakhstan on Wednesday, November 1, as part of a visit to boost France's footprint in Central Asia. The French leader is on a two-day visit to the resource-rich region, where Russia, China, Turkey and Europe are all jostling for influence. Macron said the purpose of his trip was to "strengthen [...] complement and accelerate" France's partnership with Kazakhstan during a press conference in the capital Astana.
Central Asia, which has long been under Russian influence and was part of the Soviet Union, is receiving increasing attention from other powers as Moscow is taken up with its war in Ukraine. Macron acknowledged the "geopolitical pressures" being put on Kazakhstan, which borders Russia to its north and China to its east.
"I do not underestimate the geopolitical difficulties, the pressures, sometimes the jostling to which you may be subjected," Macron told Kazakhstan's president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. "In a world where great powers want to become hegemonies and where regional powers are becoming unpredictable," the French president said he welcomed Kazakhstan's "refusal ... to take the route of becoming a vassal."
Tokayev, in turn, said France was his country's "key and reliable partner in the EU" and that he wanted to give their partnership "extra impetus".
The leaders signed a series of contracts in sectors ranging from minerals and energy to pharmaceuticals and aerospace.
French energy giant EDF is in the running to build Kazakhstan's first nuclear power station – a project due to be decided on in a referendum this year. The Elysee also announced Paris would supply Ground Master 400 air defense radar systems to Kazakhstan to boost the country's "sovereignty."
France is the fifth-biggest foreign investor in Kazakhstan, ahead of China, mainly because of the involvement of energy giant TotalEnergies in the massive Kashagan offshore oil field project. The head of French uranium company Orano, which already has a mine in Kazakhstan, is in Macron's delegation. Trade turnover between France and Kazakhstan reached €5.3 billion ($5.6 billion) in 2022 and Kazakhstan supplies around 40 percent of France's uranium needs.
Macron will later travel to neighboring Uzbekistan, ramping up efforts to put France's political and economic mark on the energy-rich region. China is particularly active in Central Asia with its "Belt and Road" project, but Europe and Turkey have also shown growing interest. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are due to visit Astana this week after Macron.
Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are aiming for greater economic openness and a balanced diplomacy, even though Russia remains their primary partner. Kazakhstan is part of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) – a Moscow-led military alliance – along with two other central Asian states, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Kremlin said Wednesday that it maintained a "historic" partnership with its ally Astana.
"Kazakhstan is a sovereign nation that develops relations with other countries at its own discretion," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday when asked if Russia was concerned by Macron's visit.
The trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan aims to support "interest in a diversification of partnerships expressed by both countries," a French presidency source said. Several French presidents have visited Kazakhstan since the fall of the Soviet Union, but Macron will be the first to go to Uzbekistan since 1994.
Despite their declared wish for political liberalization, both countries are authoritarian states where protests are often violently repressed. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has put an end to two decades of isolation imposed by his predecessor and former mentor Islam Karimov, but there is still no real political opposition.
Macron prefers to emphasize the "reform dynamic" going on in the country and has said that the rule of law issue will be brought up during his visit.