ASTANA - The new agreement on expanded partnership between Kazakhstan and the European Union will help enhance their interaction in the fields previously beyond its scope, Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov said.
“The new document sets forth legal foundations for the cooperation in such areas as earlier not affected by the PCA (Partnership and Co-operation Agreement) of 1995 and those where Kazakhstan and the EU are committed to develop an active interaction: aerospace safety, combating proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, counteracting against financing terrorism, antiterrorist efforts, small arms and light weapons, struggle against cybercrime, protection of personal data, cooperation in the field of public service, civil defense, climate change, healthcare, public finance management, cooperation on taxation,” Idrissov said in an article published in Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper on Friday.
The recently signed Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement provides either for initiation of a dialogue or intensification of an existent interaction between Kazakhstan and the EU in 15 extra areas of cooperation, Idrissov said.
In particular, this means an orderly political and economical dialogue on foreign policy and security, the dialogues on issues related to sustainable development, as well as those aimed to prevent sham taxation practices and tackle the problems of international security and crisis management, he said.
Kazakhstan and the EU have also agreed to expand their current dialogue on human rights, consolidate their dialogue concerning civic society, problems of transportation, guarantees of decent labor conditions and employment policies, policies in research and innovation, as well as the dialogue on measures to stimulate increasing quality of public services and a regular dialogue on customs affairs, including sanitary and phytosanitary control, Idrissov revealed.
Also, Kazakhstan and the EU may amend the new agreement in future by way of concluding separate treaties in any of the areas within its scope, according to the article.
“For instance, after three years of the entry of the new agreement into force, our countries may amend it by adding provisions aimed to clear barriers in the way of investment, thus increasing bilateral investment flows,” Idrissov explained.
In addition, Kazakhstan and the EU may also sign separate treaties to govern conditions set for their mutual access to markets of road haulage, railway transportation, air transport or inland waterways transport, he added.
“This interstate document of an extraordinary importance makes a large focus on the cooperation in the areas of freedom, security, and justice, as well as interaction of law enforcement bodies on internal security issues. The parties have agreed to strengthen sectoral economic exchange, as well as cooperation on humanitarian and social matters,” Idrissov said.
He went on to recall that the parties have agreed that an agreement to soften the existing visa regime for Kazakh nationals in the EU may be drafted in parallel with a readmission agreement.
“On this basis, work will start on the visa dialogue with the EU, and based on the results of the efforts, the European Commission can be given a mandate to hold talks on an agreement to ease visa restrictions,” Idrissov said.
This March the upper house of the Kazakh parliament ratified the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Kazakhstan, for one part, and the European Union and its member states, for the over part.
The agreement signed in Astana on December 21, 2015 determines basic principles of the Kazakhstan-EU cooperation. The agreement contains 9 sections, 287 chapters, seven addenda to its trade section, and a protocol on the mutual administrative assistance on customs matters. The utmost important section in the new agreement is the section on trade, which stipulates for additional guarantees of stability for Kazakhstan’s European partners and is to increase the country’s investment appeal.
The European Union is Kazakhstan’s main trade and investment partner. The EU accounts for 51.4% of the Kazakh foreign trade turnover. The goods turnover between Kazakhstan and EU was more than 31 million U.S. dollars, as of the end of 2015.
