KAZAKH PRESIDENT, CHINESE BANKER DISCUSS OIL PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION

Excerpt from report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency

Almaty, 7 April: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the governor of the China Development Bank, Chen Yuan, discussed the building of an oil pipeline from western Kazakhstan to China at a meeting in Almaty today.

"I can say that this is one of the topics of our conversation," Yuan said answering a question from Interfax-Kazakhstan at a briefing following a meeting with the Kazakh president. However, he did not specify the details of the talks.

He also stressed that both states were taking "an active approach to the project".

In addition to this issue, cooperation in power engineering, metallurgy, transport and issues relating to collaboration between Kazakh and Chinese banks were also discussed, the bank's president said.

"I think we have opportunities to cooperate," Yuan stressed.

As reported earlier, the first part of the Kazakh-Chinese oil pipeline - an Atyrau-Kenkiyak section that is 448.8 km long and has a capacity of up to 12m t - was built last spring.

[Passage to end omitted: A railway line from Atasu to Alashankou is to be built as the second part of the pipeline; the pipeline is to be completed by 2005]

Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian 0835 gmt 7 Apr 04