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Expanded partnership agreement to promote closer ties between Kazakhstan, EU - Nazarbayev

Nazarbayev said that one of the key aspects of the agreement was its modernized trade section
Nursultan Nazarbayev  ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Metzel
Nursultan Nazarbayev
© ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Metzel

ASTANA, October 9. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s agreement on expanded partnership with the European Union will promote closer economic ties between them, the press service of the Kazakh head of state quoted President Nursultan Nazarbayev as saying on Thursday.

“The new agreement is a practical tool to ensure conditions for successful activities of Kazakh and European businessmen. Apart from that, it will strengthen contact between our citizens,” Nazarbayev said after a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

According to the press service, the ceremony of signing a document on the completion of talks on a draft expanded partnership and cooperation agreement between Kazakhstan and the European Union and a document on the completion of bilateral negotiation between Kazakhstan and the European Union on Kazakhstan’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) were signed on Thursday in the presence of Nazarbayev and Barroso.

Nazarbayev said that one of the key aspects of the agreement was its modernized trade section. “It takes into account Kazakhstan’s liabilities concerning its WTO membership bid and its liabilities within the Customs Union (of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan) and the Eurasian Economic Union,” he said.

Apart from that, the Kazakh President noted that the agreement creates a solid legal framework that promotes closer cooperation between his country and the European Union in a variety of areas. “The agreement embraces political dialogue, including promoting international security and stability, and issues of education, healthcare, culture, innovations. We are set to strengthen cooperation in the legal sphere, including in counteracting terrorism, fighting against organized and trans-national crime, corruption. The new agreement also reflects closer regional cooperation,” Nazarbayev said.

The Kazakh leader noted that ever since his country had established diplomatic relations with the European Union twenty years ago, bilateral cooperation had been steadily developing. AS of today, he said, countries of the European Union accounted for 50% of Kazakhstan’s foreign trade and for 50% of foreign direct investments into its economy.