Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Davos during a meeting with President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso urged the European Union to provide all-out assistance and support for the early completion of negotiations on Kazakhstan’s accession to the WTO, the press office of the head of state said on Friday.
The Kazakh president expressed confidence that this move would serve as an additional guarantee for European investors and improve further the investment and business climate in the country and its competitiveness on a global scale. To this end Nazarbayev said that Kazakhstan pays special attention to the development of the relations with the EU.
«The trade with the European Union amounts to $50 billion. Currently we are working on a number of issues, in particular on the agreement on enhanced partnership and cooperation. The signing of this document should be expedited whenever possible. We are also interested in solving the issue of visa-free regime with the EU,» the press office quoted Nazarbayev as saying during the meeting.
Barroso said that the EU and European companies are interested in expanding economic ties with Kazakhstan and emphasized that the completion of the negotiations and the signing of the new bilateral agreement on enhanced partnership and cooperation between Kazakhstan and the European Union would give an additional impetus to the strengthening of mutually beneficial cooperation and form the legal basis for a new qualitative phase of dialogue with the EU, the press office informed.
In addition, Nazarbayev and Barroso discussed the issues of cooperation between the Customs Union and the EU.
ASTANA. Jan 24 (Interfax-Kazakhstan)
