Maulen Ashimbayev, Co-chair of
Parliamentary Cooperation Committees (PCCs) have taken place on a regular basis with Kazakhstan. since 2000.
The PCCs are a key element of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA and provide the framework for the relationship between the EU and Kazakhstan.
A key role of the PCCs is to review the implementation of the PCA. They have the right to request information from the Cooperation Council which supervises the Agreement. The PCC can also make recommendations to the Council.
The EPCA, signed in December 2015 in Astana is, say EU and Kazakh officials, a good example of a thriving relationship while a spokesman for the European External Action Service (EEAS) said relations between the two sides “can only benefit” from regular meetings.
The EPCA pact between the EU and the Central Asian nation aims to set the tone for future economic and political ties.
It enhances cooperation in foreign and security matters, especially in the areas of regional stability, international cooperation in the fight against terrorism, conflict prevention and crisis management.
Officials say the agreement, which constitutes the first of its kind signed by the EU with one of its Central Asian partners, elevates relations between the EU and Kazakhstan to a new level.
While the EPCA has, thus far, been endorsed by eight EU members Grigule is confident the ratification process will be speeded up.
She points out that the EU is Kazakhstan’s largest trading and economic partner and the biggest investor in the Kazakh economy, accounting for 50 percent of trade and more than 50 percent of foreign direct investment.
The EU, she says, has no such agreement (the EPCA) with any other country of the former Soviet Union.
In 1991- 2014 the EU funded more than 350 projects in Kazakhstan for the total amount of €180 million which have been allocated to policy advice and technical assistance to various ministries, agencies and committees of the government of Kazakhstan.