24 November 2015, 13:15 GMT
ASTANA (Sputnik) – The signing of an EU-Kazakhstan partnership agreement will provide for expanded political and economic cooperation between Astana and Amsterdam, the Dutch prime minister said Wednesday.
The new 2015 agreement, covering 29 areas, including economy, trade, services, energy, and human rights, is expected to replace a 1999 cooperation agreement.
"I believe that the expanded partnership agreement with the European Union will set absolutely new qualitative basis for political and economic relations between our countries. Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian country to have signed and developed this agreement with the EU," Mark Rutte, currently on an official visit in Astana, said.
In October 2014, the European Union and Kazakhstan completed negotiations to create an updated expanded partnership agreement.
Earlier in November, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov said Astana intended to sign the agreement in December.
