The Senate hosted a meeting of Maulen Ashimbayev with EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon Gilmore and EU Special Representative for Central Asia Terhi Hakala.
Maulen Ashimbayev opened the meeting by saying that Kazakhstan attaches high importance to building mutually beneficial and pragmatic cooperation with all the EU member states and institutions. In this context, the Senate reserves a special role for the further development of inter-parliamentary cooperation.
The sides agreed on the need to intensify the work of the dialogue platforms that establish a regular exchange of relevant information on the issues of concern to the parties. The priority topics include the expansion of the scope of bilateral trade and investment, exchange of opinions on regional security issues, promotion of democratic values, and political reforms implemented in the country at the initiative of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
“The Head of State signed a Decree on measures to implement the Address to the People of Kazakhstan “The Unity of the People and Systemic Reforms are a Solid Foundation for the Country’s Prosperity”. The block for political modernization and protection of human rights is quite comprehensive. Specifically, it is planned to adopt several laws as part of the continuation of the course of political modernization. Some amendments to the legislation required for the pilot direct elections of district akims will be developed. Also, there are plans to establish provisions for mandatory registration of quotas in the distribution of deputy seats and to expand the list of social categories eligible for quotas, in addition to women and youth, by establishing a quota for people with special needs,” the Speaker of the Senate noted.
The main keynote of the meeting was the discussion of the political modernization taking place in Kazakhstan as a guarantee of further increasing the efficiency of the state, transparency and competitiveness of the political process.
(Press Office of the Senate, 74-72-27. Photo by E. Ukibayev)
