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Europe Day 2017 in Kazakhstan:
Anniversary Year for the
European Union
This late spring and early summer
season in Astana was brightened
by Europe Day 2017 celebration,
covering variety of events from 20
may to 16 June. A series of events
organized by the Delegation of the
European Union to Kazakhstan has
become traditional - Europe Day
has been held in our country for
more than 16 years. Europe Day is
an important annual opportunity
to think about where we are, and
where we are going on the journey
of cooperation between the EU and
Kazakhstan. Both sides have already
entered a new phase of relations,
where indeed new achievements
and successes are awaiting.
The EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced
Partnership
and
Cooperation
Agreement properly reflects this
new trend. Being a so-called ‘second
generation’ agreement, the EPCA
provides a modern and dynamic
framework for our cooperation. It's
also telling that Kazakhstan is the
only country in Central Asia with
which such agreement was signed.
This year residents and guests of Astana
had unique opportunity to attend several
festive events in the field of culture, art
and education.
On May 20, a special meeting was held in
the format PechaKucha Night Astana on
the theme EU Activities in Kazakhstan.
This year the speakers from the EU
Delegation to Kazakhstan spoke about
the dynamics of the development of the
EU-Kazakhstan bilateral relations, the
world monitor
EU foreign policy activity, and about EU
funded projects in Kazakhstan. The event
was attended by more than 300 people,
the most active 10 participants received
souvenirs from the EU.
The series continued with the annual
Hour of Europe lectures were held in
16 schools in Astana. The ambassadors
of the European Union, Bulgaria,
Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia,
Greece, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia,
Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria,
Poland, Portugal, Finland simultaneously
conducted interactive lectures in English
and German on the history of the
European Union, its achievements and
prospects, the economy and politics,
culture and values of the European Union
and its member states.
Extra highlight was on special informal
event Ambassadors Cafe, organized
for active youth. The 50 youngsters,
including students and teachers from
Kazakh universities and representatives
from businesses and NGOs, had
the opportunity to meet with the
ambassadors of 12 EU member states
to discuss issues of interest to them in
the sphere of the role of the EU, bilateral
relations and cooperation between the
EU and Kazakhstan in certain areas of
cooperation. “People see in the faces
of ambassadors some kind of high-level
people. We wanted to show that we are
normal people like anyone around the
table. We also enjoy communicating
with students and youth. We use this
opportunity to communicate; to show
what the EU is; what it is doing; what
the projects are; what the areas of our
cooperation are; how we engage with
partners, national authorities, local
authorities, NGOs, human rights groups
and others; how we promote trade,