Joint Proposal for a Council Decision on the signing and provisional application of the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Kazakhstan

Relations between the European Union and the Republic of Kazakhstan are currently based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed in Brussels on 23 January 1995, which entered into force in June 1999.

On 13 April 2011, the Council adopted a Decision authorising the European Commission to negotiate the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Kazakhstan. Negotiation of the Agreement began in June 2011, but Kazakhstan halted talks between September 2012 and October 2013, most likely as a result of its membership of the Customs Union with Russia and Belarus.

Following the eighth round of negotiations held on 12 September 2014, the EU and Kazakhstan finalised the text of the Agreement. Both parties initialled the Agreement on 20 January 2015. For the EU, the Agreement constitutes an important step towards increased political and economic involvement in Central Asia. By strengthening political dialogue and improving cooperation in a broad range of areas, it will provide the basis for more effective bilateral engagement with Kazakhstan.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: JOIN(2016)026: Joint Proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Kazakhstan http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=JOIN:2016:026:FIN

EUR-Lex: JOIN(2015)024: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=JOIN:2015:024:FIN

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