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EU, Kazakhstan to sign new expanded partnership deal on Thursday

BRUSSELS, October 8. /TASS/. The European Union and Kazakhstan are due to sign a new expanded agreement on partnership during the visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Brussels on Thursday, the official spokesman for the European Commission said.

The agreement is aimed at expanding partnership and trade, spokesman Jonathan Todd said.

Unlike the association agreements that the EU signed with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova in June, the partnership accords do not envisage the full adaptation of legislation of the countries to that of the EU, a European Commission expert said.

The partnership agreements serve to define framework conditions for developing economic contacts and easing cooperation between the systems with different legislation and regulations, or the EU common market on the one side and the partner country on the other.

The agreement with Kazakhstan includes 29 areas of cooperation, primarily in economy, trade, investments and development of high technologies as well as in justice, freedom and security, personal data protection and visa facilitation.

The key document also takes into account the prospects of Kazakhstan’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

The Eurasian Economic Union, which envisages free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce and is based on the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, will become operational from January 1, 2015.

The treaty to create the union was signed by presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus —  Vladimir Putin, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Alexander Lukashenko —  in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on May 29.