President Nicolas Sarkozy praised the strategic importance of Kazakhstan Tuesday, as French firms signed deals worth six billion dollars with the Central Asian state despite concerns on its rights record. The visit -- Sarkozy's first as president to Kazakhstan -- was touted as the culmination of a diplomatic push aimed at securing French companies a larger role in Central Asia's largest economy. 'The best way to resolve problems -- and there are problems and I have talked to the president -- is not necessarily to come and give lessons,' said Sarkozy at a news conference with Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev. 'It's to come as a friend to try and find solutions,' Sarkozy said, adding: 'I will not make concessions either on our economic interests or our values.' The most significant deal was an agreement worth one billion euros (1.5 billion dollars) between Total and GDF Suez and the Kazakhstan state energy company to develop the Khvalynkskoye gas field in the Caspian Sea. The two French energy giants will take a total 25 percent stake in the gas field by buying half of the holding owned by Kazakh state energy firm Kazmunaigaz. The other 50 percent is owned by Russian energy giant Lukoil. Total chief executive Christophe de Margerie said on the sidelines of the signing ceremony that the field could produce eight-nine billion cubic metres of gas annually once it becomes operational from 2016. Spie Capag consortium, owned by construction giant Vinci, meanwhile signed memorandums with Kazakhstan worth an estimated 1.75-billion-dollars to build a pipeline for its massive Kashagan oil field. A total of 24 agreements were signed, including deals ranging from aerospace to a deal for French train conglomerate Alstom to supply material for a new tramway being built in the Kazakh capital Astana. Nazarbayev said the total volume of the deals was 'around six billion dollars'. Kazakhstan, ruled since its independence by strongman Nazarbayev, has long been courted by the West for its natural resource reserves and strategic position neighbouring China and Russia. The trip comes at a crucial time for Astana as international criticism mounts over Kazakhstan's human rights record. Kazakhstan is set in January to become the first former Soviet republic to chair the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and Human Rights Watch called on Sarkozy to press it to implement promised reforms. Most notably, the New York-based watchdog asked Sarkozy to raise the case of activist Yevgeniy Zhovtis, sentenced to four years in prison last month for a traffic accident that resulted in a man's death. But the French president gave strong backing to the prospect of Kazakhstan chairing the OSCE, praising Nazarbayev for making the 'choice of peace'. 'I have made the choice to support Kazakhstan as it is a choice for peace and because the leaders of this country have made clear their profound desire to apply the fundamental principles of the OSCE,' he said. Underlining their strategic alliance, the two presidents also signed an agreement allowing France to transport supplies across Kazakhstan for its contingent in Afghanistan. Andrea Berg of New York-based Human Rights Watch said that 18 years after its independence, it was time Kazakhstan started to show maturity on rights issues. 'They behave like or want to be seen as an important player in the world, so why is it only with regards to human rights that they stress the argument that they're a young country?' she told selfnews. mcs-sjw/har 