Brussels, 23/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Tuesday the European Commission and the Kazakh economics and trade minister Mazhit Yessenbaev signed a new EU-Kazakhstan Agreement increasing the quantities of certain Kazakh steel products that can be exported to the EU in the years 2002 to 2004. All the products covered by the agreement are excluded from the scope of the provisional EU safeguards on steel imports approved at the end of March. The agreement has retroactive effect from 1 January 2002 and will apply until 31 December 2004. It replaces the previous agreement on steel trade covering the period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2001. From the start of 2002, the EU's Member States autonomously fixed quotas equivalent to those in the new agreement. On Tuesday, the Commission explained that the new agreement gives Kazakh steel producers greater export opportunities than under the former agreement since the quantitative limits were raised by 34% for 2002 (108,000 tonnes) and by another 2.5% for 2003 and for 2004 to reach the level of 113,500 tonnes in 2004. The agreement includes a review clause that will come into effect if new countries join the EU, or if Kazakhstan joins the WTO, before the agreement expires.