Kazakhstan and the EU: The next chapter of a strategic partnership

A decade after the 2015 Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), the EU is today Kazakhstan’s largest trading and investment partner.

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Thousands of European companies operate successfully in our country, accruing profits and benefits to Europe even as they help modernise and diversify our economy.

This was and is a great achievement. But is it enough in a rapidly changing world? I think not.

I return to Brussels with an open motivation and a clear conviction: the partnership between Kazakhstan and the European Union matters more today than ever before. And that is why it must be strengthened.

Kazakhstan-EU cooperation: Three key strategic goals for both partners

Specifically, the next chapter of Kazakhstan-EU cooperation should aim at three key strategic goals for both partners: 1) strengthening resilience, 2) expanding connectivity of all kinds, and 3) creating new opportunities for citizens.

This is necessary because previous geopolitical assumptions no longer hold. Geography and power are making a comeback.

Resurgent competition is rapidly reshaping trade, technology and investment flows. Global supply chains are newly vulnerable. Trade and economic interdependence now fall prey to national security.

As Europe knows well, in such circumstances countries can either retreat into rival blocs or build new partnerships of mutual respect and shared interest.

Kazakhstan knows this too: our geography places us at the intersection of continents; our foreign policy seeks to connect them.

Kazakhstan’s connecting role increasingly backed by economic strength

This connecting role is increasingly backed by economic strength. In 2025, Kazakhstan’s economy expanded by 6.5%, with GDP reaching $306 billion.

According to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook, it is projected to exceed $360 billion in 2026. A larger and more dynamic Kazakhstan means a stronger partner for Europe at the heart of Eurasia.

Every traveller understands that the more uncertain the journey, the greater the value of dependable companions.

As our world grows more uncertain, Kazakhstan and Europe are already fellow travellers. Our balanced, pragmatic and constructive approach to international cooperation remains.

We are still firmly committed to the United Nations Charter. We continue to privilege dialogue and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. We may not always agree, but we know each other.

‘Energy security is a clear example of our mutual trust’

Interdependence makes resilience. Look at energy, where reliability has rapidly increased in strategic importance. Kazakhstan now supplies nearly 13% of the EU’s petroleum-oil imports and 16% of its natural uranium.

Energy security is a clear example of our mutual trust, increased resilience and the capacity to deliver in a more volatile world.

Why not do the same in agriculture? Food security is a growing strategic concern globally. Kazakhstan is one of the world’s major grain producers and exporters, with strong potential for European markets that need to diversify.

Simultaneously, European know-how, technologies and investment can support deeper processing and higher-value-added agricultural production in our country.

Similarly, the global economic transition toward sustainable growth will require unprecedented engagement. Critical raw materials, renewable technologies, energy efficiency and new industrial ecosystems are rapidly shaping future competitiveness.

Here again, Kazakhstan can bring significant resources and industrial potential to the table if Europe meets it with expertise, technologies and investment. Both our economies will grow, both will be more resilient.

Secure and efficient transport routes strategic arteries

Building on our first decade, is it not time to evolve our economic relationship from the traditional commodity-extraction-for-investment model toward a partnership that creates value at every stage through advanced processing, technology transfer, research partnerships and joint ventures?

Look at connectivity. In Kazakhstan we understand that secure and efficient transport routes, like the Silk Road, have always been strategic arteries.

That is why we are developing the Middle Corridor between Europe and Asia, which aligns naturally with the EU’s Global Gateway strategy.

But connectivity means more than moving goods faster across borders. The Middle Corridor is better understood as the backbone of an emerging system linking Europe’s markets and economic engines with Central Asia’s resources, emerging industrial base, and logistics potential.

True connectivity – think the canals, sea lanes, and highways of antiquity – has always created value through opportunity. It integrates markets, stimulates investment, supports entrepreneurship and brings societies closer together. It harnesses geography for productivity.

AI, digital governance, innovation ecosystems and trusted technologies

That is why our partnership must also now embrace the technologies that will deliver future prosperity. Artificial intelligence, digital governance, innovation ecosystems and trusted technologies are rapidly becoming central to economic competitiveness and national resilience.

Kazakhstan has set ambitious goals toward becoming a more digital state through digitalising public services, developing data-driven governance, and investing in artificial intelligence.

We are committed to continuing our close cooperation with European tech companies to ensure that technological progress remains inclusive, secure and human-centred.

Above all, a truly strategic partnership must tangibly benefit citizens. Significant progress is being made on a visa system that will enable greater and easier travel and make a practical difference for students, researchers, entrepreneurs, and families on all sides.

Raise the bar on education, science and innovation

We must also again raise the bar on education, science and innovation. Kazakhstan’s participation in Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe already shows the scale of the opportunity. We need more academic mobility and collaboration, more joint innovation and more pathways for young people.

Time does not stand still for any of us. Kazakhstan enters the next decade of its EU partnership as a nation in renewal that believes that resilience begins at home.

Our new constitution is the first major reset since independence. It reflects the aspirations of our next generation to live in a just and fair country based on law and order, grounded in the unwavering respect and protection of basic human rights and freedoms.

It also reinforces a set of comprehensive political and economic reforms aimed at strengthening public accountability and enhancing the effectiveness of institutions under the formula “Strong President, Influential Parliament and Accountable Government”.

We want our partners and investors to find new markets in Kazakhstan, but also stable rules and predictable, fair and transparent economic governance.

The last decade has given us confidence that we can successfully partner. As we look to the next decade, I believe that our partnership must deliver meaningful results.

The good news is that Europe and Kazakhstan already have most of the tools and inputs to enhance their partnership. Together we will innovate the rest.

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is visiting Brussels for talks with the EU leaders on 22-23 June.