In a referendum held 18 months ahead of schedule, Pres. Nazarbayev was elected to his second term as president. His main opposition, former prime minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin, was barred from the election on a technicality.
Nine oil companies and the governments of Kazakhstan, Oman, and Russia signed an agreement worth $2 billion to build a 900-mile pipeline from western Kazakhstan to Russia's Black Sea port, Novorossiysk.
