Kazakhstan-EU coop to be discussed in Brussels

sp;ASTANA. November 16. KAZINFORM /Aigul Tulekbayeva/ The XI high level session of the Cooperation Council is to be in accordance with the schedule of the Kazakhstan-EU political dialog held in Brussels on November 17; Kazakh MFA's official spokesman Yerzhan Ashikbayev has said it at the briefing today.

According to him, the Kazakh delegation will be headed by Yerbol Orynbayev. The EU delegation will be represented by State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Frank Belfrage, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union Javier Solana and representatives of Spain, which will chair the EU in the first half of 2010.

"The current state and promising directions of cooperation in the format of the Kazakhstan-EU dialog, implementation of "Path to Europe" program and EU Strategy for Central Asia, and the issues of Kazakhstan's chairmanship in the OSCE will be considered at the session", Y.Ashikbayev said.

According to him, special attention will be paid to the issue of conclusion of a new framework agreement between Kazakhstan and EU. The sides will exchange opinions on a number of topical international and regional problems, including Iran's nuclear program, situation in Central Asia and Afghanistan. "Following the results of the Council's work there will be adopted a joint political declaration", he added.