Astana, Dec 4 (EFE).- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev highlighted the high level of cooperation between the Central Asian nation and the European Union on Thursday at a meeting with European Council President António Costa in Astana.
“We place particular emphasis on your visit. It stands as yet another indication of our mutual readiness to expand the all-round Kazakhstan-EU cooperation even further,” said the president, according to the Kazakh presidency’s press office.
Tokayev stressed that both countries maintain a “robust and meaningful partnership based on mutual respect and understanding.”
“Our political dialogue is dynamic and developing across many areas of mutual interest,” he said, assessing the results of the EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council recently held in Brussels.
In turn, Costa thanked the Kazakh president for the warm welcome and emphasized the EU’s interest in further deepening cooperation.
“Over the last ten years, the EU has become Kazakhstan’s main trading partner and foreign investor. At the same time, Kazakhstan has emerged as a key element of our economic security as the third-largest supplier of oil and uranium,” he said.
Costa noted that Kazakhstan and the EU are currently entering “a new stage in strengthening our relationship and expanding our economic ties.”
During the meeting, the parties discussed “a wide range of cooperation issues, placing particular emphasis on partnership in transport and logistics, digitalization, energy, critical minerals, agriculture, and other promising areas,” the Kazakh presidency concluded.
On Monday, Kazakh Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev visited Brussels, where he met with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Kaja Kallas, and the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Josef Síkela, within the framework of the 22nd meeting of the EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council. EFE