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Kazakhstan pledges to support Serbia within Eurasian Union

Xinhua, August 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Serbia expects assistance from Kazakhstan in order to reach tariff-free arrangements with countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said on Wednesday.

Nikolic made this statement at a joint press conference with his visiting Kazakh colleague Nursultan Nazarbayev, who promised support to Serbia's goals.

The meeting between Nikolic and Nazerbayev resulted in the signing of five bilateral agreements, including a declaration to strengthen cooperation within international organizations and deepen relations between the two countries.

These bilateral agreements deal with judicial and economic cooperation, mutual assistance in criminal matters, extradition treaty and transfer of sentenced persons, Serbia's participation at EXPO 2017 in Astana, and cooperation between the Vojvodina province and the administration of the Almaty region.

At the press conference following their meeting, Nazerbayev revealed that the main topic in the conversation with Nikolic was cooperation in economy and trade and expressed assurance that Kazakhstan would support cooperation with Serbia within the EEU.

"We considered the possibility of cooperation (with Serbia) within the Eurasian Economic Union. We know that Serbia wishes to become part of the Free Trade Zone and Kazakhstan is willing to support that as a member of that union," Nazerbayev said.

He meanwhile reminded that negotiations on the trade regime unification agreement between the EEU and Serbia were launched in May at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council's meeting in Astana.

He said fifteen companies from Serbia did business in Kazakhstan in areas of trade and construction, and invited more Serbian companies to come and take part in infrastructural projects "within the great Silk Road" in that country.

Out of five members of the EEU, Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus already have free trade zone agreements with Serbia while Armenia and Kyrgyzstan do not.

Nikolic said Serbia expects Kazakhstan's assistance in achieving tariff-free arrangements with all countries of the EEU.

"We remain dedicated in realization of integration into the European Union as a priority of our foreign policy, but we also fully support other integration processes such as the Eurasian Economic Union," Nikolic said, continuing that Serbia looks forward to improving relations with Kazakhstan especially in the economic field. Endit