France has reached agreement with Kazakhstan on the transport of French troops and military equipment to Afghanistan via Kazakh territory.

The French and Kazakh foreign ministers signed an agreement in the Kazakh capital Astana following talks between Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.

This was the French president's first visit to Kazakhstan. During the visit, the French energy companies Total and GDF Suez signed an agreement with the Kazakh state-owned energy company. The two French companies will join a project to develop the Khvalinskoye gas field in the Caspian Sea. The deal is worth an estimated one billion euros.