Following the 22nd meeting of the Cooperation Council between the European Union and Kazakhstan on Monday 1 December, the two parties officially launched negotiations on the visa facilitation agreement and the readmission agreement between the European Union and Kazakhstan.
As the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, pointed out, Kazakhstan is already participating in the Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ programmes.
Once in force, the new agreement “will reduce visa processing times, cut administrative costs and travel formalities, and make it easier to travel within the European Union”, she said.
Ms Kallas also stressed the need to diversify trade routes, particularly in the energy sector, in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Oil, gas and uranium account for 90% of Kazakh exports to the EU.
More broadly, the two parties have undertaken to strengthen their cooperation in priority areas such as transport connectivity and critical raw materials, ten years after the signing of their Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)