Kazakhstan, EU to sign new deal

/By AzerNews/

By Vusala Abbasova

The new EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement will help Kazakhstan to implement the government programs aimed at strengthening the national economy.

The implementation of the new Agreement has significant importance for the country, particularly in the current context of regional tension and global economic crisis.

The first significant step of the process was the initiating of the Agreement in Brussels on 20 January 2015.

This day became a starting point towards the eventual signature and subsequent implementation that is scheduled for autumn of current year.

The issue of the possible implementation of the Agreement in the near future was discussed during the recent meeting between the Kazakhstan Secretary of State Gulshara Abdykalikova and head of the European Union Delegation Aurelia Bouchez.

The Agreement will help the government modernize infrastructure and maintain spending programs for job creation, social services, support to low-income households, and private sector development, particularly for small businesses.

It will also increase the flow of trade, services and investment between the parties and will contribute to Kazakhstan's political and social development.

Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian partner to have concluded an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU.

The new Agreement will replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in force since 1999, and will give EU-Kazakhstan relations a new up-to-date and stronger foundation.

Over the past decades, the EU has become Kazakhstan's first trading partner and first foreign investor, representing over half of total Foreign Direct Investments(FDI) in Kazakhstan.

Bilateral trade amounts to above 31 billion euros, from which 24 billion euros is Kazakhstan's exports, notably oil, while about 7.5 billion euros is EU exports to Kazakhstan, mainly manufactured goods, machinery and equipment.