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10/7/17

EU Commission: Kazakhstan proves good relations with both EU and Russia are possible

A Commission official said on Wednesday (4 October) that Kazakhstan was “the living proof” for Central Asia and the EU’s neighborhood that it should be possible for those countries to have good relations both with Brussels and Moscow.

Luc Devigne, deputy managing director for Europe and Central Asia in the European External Action Service (EEAS), spoke at a conference dedicated to EU-Kazakhstan relations, organised by the Berlin Eurasian Club, a dialogue platform initiated in 2012 by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the former long-serving German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher.

De Vigne said that the EU’s relationship with Central Asia in general and Kazakhstan in particular “has never been any stronger or any better”. He said that the EU and Kazakhstan shared many common objectives, starting with regional peace and stability, fighting terrorism, fostering the rule of law and increasing prosperity and trade.

As the conference focused on the “Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement” between Kazakhstan and the EU (EPCA), De Vigne, who has led the EU’s effort to conclude this 150-page agreement, said that both sides could be proud of the results.

This new agreement, the provisional application of which started on 1 May 2016, is the first of its kind signed by the EU with one of its Central Asian partners. It is described as WTO-Plus, as in essence, its chapter on government procurement mirrors the equivalent WTO chapter (GPA).

Read more: Commission: Kazakhstan proves good relations with both EU and Russia are possible – EURACTIV.com

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