(gazeta.kz) - Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, met Javier Solana, Secretary General of the EU Council and EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, in Brussels, the presidential press service reports.
They exchanged their opinions on a wide range of issues related with the Kazakh-European co-operation and international problems at the meeting. The sides noted the importance of a new EU strategy of relations with Central Asia during the German EU chairmanship in the first half of 2007, reports Trend.
At the same time it has been stressed that the different levels of socioeconomic and political reforms in the Central Asian countries should be taken into consideration when the EU regional strategy is worked out. Mr. Solana observed that Kazakhstan as a regional leader played a principal role in the maintenance of stability and promotion of Central Asian co-operation.
Ways for strengthening the energy, commercial, and economic co-operation in the light of the forthcoming accession of Kazakhstan to the WTO were addressed as well. The importance of bilateral documents of energy signed during the visit of the President of Kazakhstan to Brussels - a memorandum on mutual understanding and an agreement on co-operation in the peaceful nuclear energy - was stressed.
Given that the term of the agreement on partnership and co-operation between Astana and Brussels will expire in three years the sides agreed on a necessity of bringing the Kazakh-EU relations to a qualitatively new level.