The 18th meeting of the Kazakhstan - European Union Cooperation Committee

NUR-SULTAN, September 25, 2020 – The 18th meeting of the Republic of Kazakhstan-European Union Cooperation Committee was held via a video conference under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Margulan Baymukhan, and Luc Devigne, Director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia and the OSCE of the European External Action Service.

The Kazakh delegation consisted of representatives of 9 state bodies of Kazakhstan, including the Ministry of Trade and Integration, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development, as well as the Ministry of National Economy.

The main topics of the discussions were strengthening the political dialogue and multilateral trade, economic and investment relations between Kazakhstan and the European Union member states within the framework of the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), which entered into force on March 1, 2020.

During the course of the video conference, participants exchanged opinions on the implementation of previously reached agreements on the existing dialogue platforms between Kazakhstan and the EU in the field of trade, energy, environmental protection, agriculture, and human rights. Additionally, issues of establishing air links between Kazakhstan and the European Union and facilitating the visa regime for the citizens of Kazakhstan were also discussed.

Special attention was paid to the promotion of interregional cooperation within the framework of the "Central Asia – European Union" meetings, as well as the development and implementation of new regional projects within the framework of the new EU Strategy for Central Asia.

Following the meeting, the parties agreed to continue cooperation on the issues discussed in the framework of the upcoming Kazakhstan – EU and Central Asia – EU meetings.

The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the EU for the period January-July 2020 amounted to 13.8 billion US dollars. Foreign direct investment in the first quarter of 2020 amounted to 1.72 billion US dollars. Currently, in Kazakhstan, there are more than 4,000 companies with European participation and more than 2,000 joint ventures registered. There are 17 completed projects totaling 641 million US dollars, as well as 37 investment projects that are both ongoing and under development with the involvement of investors from EU countries for a total amount of 8.8 billion US dollars.