Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan participates in the 18th Meeting of the Kazakhstan-European Union Cooperation Council in Brussels

Brussels, May 10, 2021 - Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tileuberdi took part in the 18th Meeting of the “Republic of Kazakhstan - European Union” Council of Cooperation. The European side was represented by Augusto Santos Silva, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Portugal, which is currently chairing the EU Council.

The Cooperation Council Meeting was the first since the entry into force of the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA) between Kazakhstan and the EU. In this regard, the parties discussed topical issues of political, trade-economic, cultural, and humanitarian cooperation in the context of their practical implementation. The Agreement covers 29 promising areas, such as international and regional security, trade, investment, infrastructure development, as well as innovation, culture, sports, etc.

The delegations discussed the issues of trade diversification aimed to expand trade, economic, and investment cooperation. Among some specific items on the agenda is export facilitation of Kazakh agricultural and fish products into the EU.

The talks confirmed mutual interest in deepening beneficial partnership in such fields, as green energy, transport, environmental protection, education, and science. In particular, a further expansion of EU’s various academic and science exchange programs to Kazakh youth, such as Erasmus + and Horizone Europe was raised.

One of the important issues of the EPCA implementation is the visa facilitation for Kazakh citizens traveling to the EU. Minister Tileuberdi emphasized that this subject is among priority items on our agenda and the importance of activating the negotiations on the mutual travel of citizens remains high.

The vaccination of the population against coronavirus was another vast topic of the discussion. The parties exchanged the latest information on the vaccination progress and its pace, shared their vision on the vaccination perspectives, as well as discussed the prospects of using the so-called “green certificates” for travelers and tourists that is being implemented in the EU in June 2021. In this context, M. Tileuberdi spoke about the achievements of Kazakhstani researchers who developed the “QazVac” – a home-grown vaccine of Kazakhstan, and offered to build a cooperation between the research institutes of Kazakhstan and the EU in the fight against pandemics.

The Kazakh side acquainted in detail the EU delegation with the implementation of political reforms initiated by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in the framework of the concept of “listening state”. European partners positively assessed the implementation of the third package of reforms in Kazakhstan.

At the end of the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Tileuberdi held a press conference for the European and Kazakhstani media.

The European Union is a key trade and investment partner of the Republic of Kazakhstan; half of our country’s foreign trade and investment accounts to the cooperation with the EU. The trade turnover in January-February, 2021 reached 3.7 billion USD; in 2020 it was 23.7 billion USD (including exports - 17.7 billion USD, and imports - 6 billion USD); in 2019 the trade turnover was 31.4 billion USD. Kazakhstan was the first country in the Central Asia to sign in 2015 an Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation with the EU.