Kazakhstan ? European Union Cooperation Committee held regular session

BRUSSELS. March 31. KAZINFORM. /Yerzhan Ospanov/ The 9th sitting of ?Kazakhstan – European Union? Cooperation Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Coordinator for Interaction with the EU Konstantin Zhigalov and acting head of the European Commission Directorate for Eastern Europe, the Southern Caucasus and Central Asian Republics Gunnar Wiegand took place in Brussels on Monday.

The Kazakh side was represented by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to the Kingdom of Belgium Yerik Utembayev and senior officials of the ministries and departments. The issues of bilateral and regional cooperation as well as urgent international problems were discussed. The parties noted high dynamics of the Kazakh-European cooperation and agreed to develop and strengthen it further. Talking about the world economic crisis and ways to overcome it, K. Zhigalov drew attention of the European partners to the Kazakh President?s system approaches outlined in the article ?Keys to the Crisis?. He also emphasized that President Nazarbayev?s initiative on creation of a common world currency was widely supported by G20 countries. The European side welcomed Kazakhstan?s active participation in search for ways out of the global financial crisis. During the presentation of ?The Path to Europe? government program Brussels suggested implementing some of its projects through joint efforts. The sides emphasized the necessity of coordination of efforts within the framework of realization of the EU Strategy for Central Asia and ?The Path to Europe? program. The European delegation confirmed interest in Kazakhstan?s early accession to the WTO. The agreement on holding the next round of negotiations in April 2009 was reached. Both sides confirmed intention to begin talks on new agreement on advanced partnership between Kazakhstan and the European Union. Today the two delegations will hold a meeting to discuss the issues of simplification of visa regime between Kazakhstan and the EU.