World Monitor Magazine, Business and Investments WM_march 2019_web | Page 13

DESTINATION KAZAKHSTAN
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev meets with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium. 19 October 2018. Photo by akorda.kz
geopolitical realities, changing needs and
the growing capabilities of the countries
of our region.
We view this decision as confirmation of the
EU’s priority attention to building a more
advanced partnership with Central Asia.
Kazakhstan hopes that the new Strategy
will become a solid, effective and
multi-functional basis for even deeper
cooperation between the European Union
and Central Asia, a new driver of strategic
cooperation between our regions.
In particular, we support the declared
intentions of the European partners to
participate in the current processes in
the CA countries in the field of ensuring
the rule of law, security, good governance
and education, as well as promote further
diversification of economies and attract
investments, develop interconnectedness,
strengthen the potential of the Central
Asian states in energy, digitalization,
transport and logistics, as well as to
ensure stability in the region.
Kazakhstan, like all Central Asian countries,
is actively cooperating with the European
Commission to update the EU Central Asia
Strategy in order to ensure its greatest
effectiveness, based on the interests of all
countries in the region. in the past two years, there has been
an increase in regional cooperation in
Central Asia. There are positive trends
in the development of dialogue on
important issues on the regional agenda.
The significance of the region in the
system of modern international relations
is growing rapidly.
We welcome the main directions of the
future strategy, previously voiced by the
European side during the ‘European Union
- Central Asia’ Ministerial Conference held
in Brussels on November 23, 2018. This, in turn, opens up new interesting
perspectives for interaction between the
European Union and our region.
We are interested in promoting the
effective modernization of our states,
developing market potential, diversifying
economies and, as a result, establishing
our region as a significant player in
the system of international economic
relations. It remains one of the
foundations of our further cooperation.
We believe the effective implementation
of the Strategy will promote further
rapprochement between Central Asia
and the European Union, including
implementation of joint project activities
in the areas of development, the rule of
law, security, education, environmental
protection, and the development of trade,
economic and investment cooperation.
Thus, a very timely and opportune
moment has come for the preparation of
the updated Strategy.
In general, we urge the European Union
to be more ambitious and expand
its presence in Central Asia. This is
important for the region in the context
of balancing the presence of leading
foreign trade and investment partners.
supported by EUROBAK
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