The Rushford Report January 1998
Players Who's Up to What
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World Wide Minerals' fight with Kazakhstan may be ending
It's rare in Washington for lobby battles to end early, and with a clear happy outcome for all. But that may be the case with World
Wide Minerals, a Toronto, Canada-based energy company. Two months ago, World Wide began bringing heavy pressure on
Kazakhstan, which it accused of reneging on a $23 million uranium mining contract. After investing the money for the mining
operations, World Wide was left hanging when officials denied granting an export license - there is no market in Kazakhstan for
uranium.
World Wide turned to two experienced Washington operatives. Bart Fisher is of counsel to the D.C. office of Porter, Wright,
Morris & Arthur, and former Republican congressman Thomas Evans heads the Evans Group.
Fisher and Evans put on a serious legal-political press. They drew up a trade complaint for possible use by U.S. Trade
Representative Charlene Barshefsky, and also a federal lawsuit. The political part was the usual hands-on lobbying of official, with
a higher than usual voltage level. Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, came to Washington on a state visit in November
to ask President Clinton to encourage foreign investments in the energy sector. Everywhere he went, Nazarbayev heard about how
World Wide had been treated.
Now Fisher and Evans report that they have been told by officials at Kazakhstan's Washington embassy that their company's case
will be "resolved affirmatively."
For the Washington lobbyists and their client, a $23 million win is in sight. For Kazakhstan, the move will help reassure
investors in billions of dollars of future oil deals that there is an emerging rule of law in the former Soviet republic.
The Politics of International Trade and Finance (Page 3) |
