#Kazachstanas yra geriausias Europos ir Azijos ryšys

The EU has unveiled ambitious proposals designed to “better connect” Europe and Asia. The blueprint was outlined on Wednesday by the European Commission and Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The joint communication sets out the EU's vision for a “new and comprehensive strategy” to better connect Europe and Asia.

Mogherini, the EU foreign affairs chief, said, “We will do this by building new connections and networks between Europe and Asia.”

This will be done through transport networks, by building digital and energy networks and, thirdly, by promoting human exchanges and mobility.

The overall idea is to facilitate mutual understanding and to share ideas.

The “vision” promises to be a win-win for both the EU and Central Asian countries like Kazakhstan.

The EU, for its part, stands to leverage sustainable investments for connectivity projects. Asia is estimated to need around €1.3 trillion per year for infrastructure investment – a huge amount of money – and if the EU supports Kazakhstan and its neighbours the opportunities for the European companies are clearly there.

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But Kazakhstan stands to win as well, by promoting itself on the world stage and capitalising on ever closer relations, both trade and economic, with the EU and its member states.

Kazakhstan is, of course, rich in energy resources, its companies are part of global and regional value chains and Kazakhstan is promoting green economy with ambitious targets and by diversification and investments in renewable energy.

But the country’s rapid reform programme doesn’t stop there. It is, for example, also modernising the railways rolling stock and the new Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), which opened this year, has already proved a big success.

The idea of the new EU initiative is to develop efficient, economically viable and environmentally sustainable trade routes and corridors between Europe and Asia.

A Commission source told this website: “Today, measured in value, 70% of the trade goes by sea, over 25% is carried by air, while rail remains relatively marginal. The potential for growth in all sectors is substantial.”

It is for this reason that the EU wants to work towards connecting the well-developed Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T) framework with networks in Asia

The relationship between the EU and Asia, including Kazakhstan, is of global significance and the ties are likely to increase in the coming years. Asia, with roughly 60% of the world population accounts for 35% of the EU's exports (€618bn) and 45% of the EU's imports (€774bn).

Asia will require over €1.3 trillion a year of infrastructure investment in the coming decades to maintain today’s growth rates and to adapt to climate change.

Fiscal and financial sustainability of infrastructure projects need to be ensured to avoid the risk of debt distress. This is partly why the Commission has proposed an “EU Strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia” with its concrete policy proposals and initiatives to improve connections between Europe and Asia.

The Commission is now urging the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the European Investment Bank and relevant stakeholders to discuss and support its joint communication.

Such ambitions are in tune with what Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is trying to do.

He has focused on what he terms a new, third stage of the country’s modernisation. This consists of five top priorities that are to ensure economic growth above the world average and bring the nation closer to its goal of joining the top 30 most-developed countries by 2050. The priorities are: the economy’s accelerated technological modernisation; improving and expanding the business sphere; macroeconomic stability; improving the quality of human capital; institutional reforms; security and fight against corruption.

The EU and Kazakhstan signed the 150-page EPCA in Astana back in December 2015 and, on Wednesday, a Commission official said that the EU’s relationship with Kazakhstan and rest of Central Asia “has never been any stronger or any better”.

“The EU and Kazakhstan share many common objectives, from regional peace and stability and fighting terrorism, to fostering the rule of law and increasing prosperity and trade,” he said.

2018 is an important year for EU-Kazakhstan relations as it marks the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations and the start of a new chapter with the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Kazakhstan and the EU (EPCA) fully entering into force.

Astana (and its neighbours) will be at the centre of the work the commission hopes to do during October which, as Mogherini said, will be a very Asia-oriented month because the EU will host in Brussels the Asia-Europe Meeting Summit on 18 and 19 of October.

Before that, EU Foreign Ministers are expected to agree on the new strategy at the next Foreign Affairs Council.

It all augers well, in particular, for the EU and Kazakhstan as the two sides seek to further cement their ever-blossoming relations.

 

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