Brussels, 17/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - The 10th meeting of the Cooperation Council between the EU and Kazakhstan in Brussels on Tuesday 16 September took stock of how the EU strategy for Central Asia is working and of the situation in the region. Among other things, the EU encouraged Kazakhstan, in accordance with international principles, not to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Over the past year, a new quality of cooperation between the EU and Kazakhstan had evolved, stated French Secretary of State for European Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet and Kazakh Industry and Trade Minister Vladimir Shkolnik, who jointly chaired the meeting. On the economic level, bilateral trade had certainly increased, but the EU highlighted the importance of further improving the investment climate in Kazakhstan. Improvement is also expected on human rights.
The EU also underlined the importance of reforms ahead of the Kazakh chairmanship, in 2010, of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), including in the areas of freedom of the media, electoral law and registration of political parties. Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been in power since 1989, was made president for life last year. At Tuesday's meeting, both parties restated their commitment to setting up a regular structured dialogue on human rights (a meeting is scheduled for mid-October).
The Cooperation Council also looked at ways of improving the EU-Kazakhstan energy partnership and underlined the importance of regional cooperation in Central Asia as a means of preventing conflict and promoting socio-economic development. The French Presidency is to hold a forum on security issues in Paris on 18 September. (A.B./transl.rt)