.Nazarbayev, EC president to discuss Kazakh-EU closer coop treaty

LUXEMBOURG, October 25 (Itar-Tass) -- Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev will meet with President of the European Council Herman Van
Rompuy here on Monday. The meeting will be held in a luncheon format that
will last for about an hour, the press service of the European Council
reported.
The negotiations will highlight the whole scope of bilateral
relations, particularly the drafting of a new agreement on advanced
partnership, a source in Brussels told Itar-Tass.
Regional and economic issues will dominate the agenda of the visit,
the source said.
On Monday afternoon, the Kazakh president will meet with NATO
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The sides will discuss a wide
range of security issues on the European continent. The NATO general
secretary and the Kazakh president are also expected to consider bilateral
cooperation in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, the Kazakh president will meet with President of the
European Parliament Jerzy Buzek.
The Kazakh president visited Brussels last time in April 2010. Then,
Nursultan Nazarbayev stated that Kazakhstan "is ready to turn into a
gateway to Central Asia for the European Union."
"The country has all conditions, natural and land resources to create
a regional technological center and to develop the productions oriented at
the exports to the markets of Russia, China and Central Asia," he noted.
EU-Kazakh economic relations are developing quickly with the focus on
energy cooperation, primarily Kazakh oil supplies to Europe. The EU states
account for 40% in Kazakhstan's overall trade. The Kazakh-EU trade reached
28.8 billion dollars in 2009. The investments of the EU states in the
country's economy reached 56 billion dollars that makes more than 30% in
overall foreign capital in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan invested more than ten
billion dollars in the economy of the EU states in the same year.