Kazakh Leader To Visit Washington In September

Aliev, who is Nazarbaev's son-in-law and Kazakhstan's special envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told reporters that talks would include Astana's bid to take over the chairmanship of the 55-member organization in 2009.

Aliev said several OSCE member states had already expressed their support for Kazakhstan's bid. Among them are, he said, "nearly all" of the 12 members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Vatican, Croatia, and "a number of European Union countries."

Nazarbaev on June 12 argued the case for Kazakhstan to chair the OSCE at an OSCE-sponsored international conference in Almaty.