US cash for Kazakhstan

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - President Bill Clinton yesterday pledged dollars 396m ( pounds 271m) to Kazakhstan to help the former Soviet republic to move to a market economy and dismantle its nuclear weapons.

Mr Clinton, at a news conference with Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan, made the promise after Mr Nazarbayev handed over papers documenting Kazakhstan's agreement to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The two leaders also signed a charter on democratic partnership.