Invest to kazakhstan
Bilateral cooperation between
Kazakhstan and EU
Diplomatic relations with the EU
have reached a very high level,
as exemplified by the Enhanced
Partnership and Cooperation
Agreement. Please, tell us what
agreements have been reached, what
are the objectives and expectations
from this document?
This year we celebrate the 24th
anniversary of the establishment of
diplomatic relations with our largest
political and trade and economic partner –
the European Union.
Roman Vassilenko,
Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Kazakhstan
Today, our bilateral relations are
characterized by proactive and regular
political dialogue, mutual visits at various
levels, high dynamics of turnover and
investment.
A system of constant consultations has
been established between our parties
concerning trade, energy, transport,
environment protection, customs
cooperation, justice, and human rights,
international and regional security.
Within the framework of bilateral
cooperation, several structures have been
established and are still operating, aiming
at deepening contacts in all areas of
cooperation.
The main structures include the following:
the Cooperation Council (at the level of
heads of central operating agencies) and
Cooperation Committees in political and
trade forms (at the level of senior officials/
deputy heads), during meetings of which
the topical issues of political and trade-
economic interaction are discussed.
At the expert level, there are
subcommittees on energy, transport,
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world monitor
environment protection and climate
change issues, as well as on customs
cooperation, on issues of justice, freedom
and security.
The inter-parliamentary dialogue is
progressively developing, the working
body of which is the Kazakhstan-EU
Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (at
the moment, 14 meetings have been held).
Kazakhstan cooperates with the EU in
various fields aimed at general and all-
round development of the region, including
within the framework of the EU Strategy
in Central Asia.
Under this Strategy, projects are being
implemented in the field of consolidating
the rule of law, reforming the judicial
and legal system, raising standards and
quality of education, managing border
cooperation, combating drug traffic,
improving environment protection,
and increasing in mutual trade and
investments.
There are negotiation platforms in the
format of 'European Union-Central Asia'
at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs,
Education and Justice, as well as the EU-
CA Dialogue on Politics and Security at the
level of Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs
and representatives of interested state
authorities.
The constructive political dialogue
between our parties is a reliable guarantee
of successful economic cooperation, which
is also developing at a fast rate.
Thus, in 2016 the volume of Kazakhstan’s
trade with EU countries was 24.1 billion
USD, which is about 50 percent of the