Kassym-Jomart Tokayev - Visit To The U.S.

Visit To The U.S.

Tokayev met with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Barry Lowenkron, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights, on 25 September 2006 in Rice's suite in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. According to Anne Gearan, a diplomatic writer for the Associated Press, the U.S. want to improve its relations with Kazakhstan despite, according to some analysts, a worsening state of political oppression. Kazakh oil output is expected to significantly increase, along with other Central Asian countries, but others are "more authoritarian, too unstable, too poor, or a combination of all three."

Prior to her meeting with Tokayev, when Rice was asked whether human rights or energy "would top the agenda" for the meeting with Tokayev, she refused to answer. The United States State Department released a statement saying the diplomats discussed the Government of Kazakhstan's cooperation in Afghanistan and Iraq and expressed hope for "a multidimensional relationship with Kazakhstan, which includes U.S. encouragement for continuing reforms."

In July, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed legislation establishing harsher regulations for media organizations, which the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called "a step backward" for media freedom. Freedom House, a pro-democracy organization, said the law "will greatly threaten freedom of expression and freedom of the press."