Without the swirling snow, driving into Astana at night would be a little like arriving in Las Vegas. Just as America's fastest-growing city rises from the desert, the new Kazakh capital looms from the blackness of the Central Asian steppe - kitschy palaces, office blocks and a 105-metre tower topped by a golden egg.

Astana is, however, not a temple to gambling. The city, much of which did not exist eight years ago, is a product of the oil riches now gushing into Kazakhstan - which, having been one of the poorest Soviet republics, is set within a decade tojoin the world's top 10 oil producers.