Photo: Mfa.kz

“Kazakhstan attaches great importance to the development of a constructive and trustful dialogue in the European Union-Central Asia format. Today, the European Union is our reliable partner, contributing to the prosperity and unity of Central Asian countries", - said Beibit Atamkulov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan at a meeting with Peter Burian, European Union (EU) Special Representative for Central Asia, reports the press service of MFA.

The visit of the EU Special Representative to Kazakhstan was held on the eve of the adoption of the new EU Strategy for Central Asia, in order to coordinate the EU's priorities with the region. Over the past two years, Kazakhstan, along with its regional neighbours, has actively participated in the preparation of the document by presenting ideas and proposals for the strategy.

In his turn, Peter Burian thanked the Kazakh side for their constructive proposals for the new strategy, the effective implementation of which is in the interests of all parties involved.

The meeting emphasised the importance of including in the strategy such areas as human capital development, ensuring the rule of law and high-quality public administration, promotion of small and medium-sized businesses, universal digitalisation, transport and logistics infrastructure, improving energy efficiency, green technologies, environmental protection, rational water use and security.

At the end of the meeting, the parties discussed the full schedule of upcoming events in 2019 related to the EU-Central Asia partnership.

"The Qazaq Times"