Prospects for further strengthening of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the European Union were discussed by Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov and Executive Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis on the margins of the 2nd EU-CA Economic Forum in Almaty. 

According to Smailov, the EU is one of the biggest and most important trade partners of Kazakhstan, which accounts for about 30% of Kazakhstan's foreign trade. Last year the trade turnover grew by more than 38% and made about $40 billion. The dynamic growth continues this year as well: for 3 months the trade volume grew by 12.5% and exceeded $10 billion. In this regard Kazakhstan is ready to increase the export of products to Europe in 175 commodity positions for about $2.3 billion.

"We give priority to the qualitative development of cooperation with the European Union and support the mutual commitment to the progressive strengthening of the Kazakh-European interaction in a spirit of trust and respect," the Prime Minister said. 

He also stressed that investment cooperation between Kazakhstan and the EU is also reaching a new level. In particular, last year the volume of direct investments from the European Union into Kazakhstan's economy grew by almost 23% and amounted to $12.5 billion, which was a record over the last 10 years.

"We are interested in using all available opportunities for further expansion of investment cooperation," Alikhan Smailov said. 

For his part, Valdis Dombrovskis said that the relations between the EU and Kazakhstan are developing very dynamically, a partnership and cooperation agreement and a memorandum in the field of sustainable raw materials, batteries and value chains of renewable hydrogen contribute to this.

"We are also interested in developing new routes and transport opportunities between Central Asia and the European Union. This requires attracting investors to work here in the region to remove bottlenecks with regard to transportation and help develop infrastructure," Valdis Dombrovskis said.

At the end of the meeting, a road map for the implementation of the EU-Kazakhstan Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership in the field of sustainable raw materials, batteries and value chains of renewable hydrogen was approved. 

This Memorandum was signed last year at the UN conference on climate change "COP-27" by the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. 

Also, Kazakhstan signed the financial agreement "Instrument for RK-EU cooperation", which implies implementation of projects in Kazakhstan to the amount of 9 million euros.

Then Alikhan Smailov and Valdis Dombrovskis jointly addressed the press.

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #International Cooperation