Kazakhstan and EU cooperate despite lack of democracy

Kazakhstan will soon enjoy stronger political and economic relations with the European Union thanks to a new enhanced cooperation agreement that was initialled by the two sides last week.

In a statement, the EU said the agreement would increase the flow of trade, services, and investment between the parties and would contribute to Kazakhstan's political and social development, neurope.eu reports.

Now that the agreement has been initialled, the next step is its signature and implementation.

Kazakhstan is the first Central Asian country to enter into such an agreement with the EU. The new enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement will replace the current partnership and cooperation agreement that was signed in 1999.

Many EU member states, including France, have already started ‘flirting’ with Kazakhstan despite the serious concerns about the country’s human rights record.  Kazakhstan, however, represents an important potential client, especially for European arms producers.