2. The cooperation shall include among others the following areas: the environmental impact of energy production supply and consumption, in order to prevent or minimize the environmental damage resulting from these activities;
- Improvement of the quality and security of energy supply, including diversification of supply, in an economic and environmentally sound manner;
- Formulation of energy policy;
- Improvement in management and regulation of the energy sector in line with a market economy;
- The introduction of the range of institutional, legal, fiscal and other conditions necessary to encourage increased energy trade and investment;
- Promotion of energy saving and energy effectiveness;
- Modernization of energy infrastructure;
- Improvement of energy technologies in supply and end use across the range of energy types;
- Management and technical training in the energy sector;
- Security in energy supply, transportation and transit of energy and energy materials.
Article 54. Environment
1. Bearing in mind the European Energy Charter, the Parties shall develop and strengthen their cooperation on environment and human health.
2. Cooperation shall aim at combating the deterioration of the environment and in particular:
- Effective monitoring of pollution levels and assessment of environment; system of information on the state of the environment;
- Combating local, regional and transboundary air and water pollution;
- Ecological restoration;
- Sustainable, efficient and environmentally effective production and use of energy;
- Safety of industrial plants;
- Classification and safe handling of chemicals;
- Water quality;
- Waste reduction, recycling and safe disposal, implementation of the Basle Convention;
- The environmental impact of agriculture, soil erosion, and chemical pollution;
- The protection of forests;
- The conservation of biodiversity, protected areas and sustainable use and management of biological resources;
- Land-use planning, including construction and urban planning;
- Use of economic and fiscal instruments;
- Global climate change;
- Environmental education and awareness;
- Implementation of the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a transboundary context.
3. Cooperation shall take place particularly through:
- Disaster planning and other emergency situations;
- Exchange of information and experts, including information and experts dealing with the transfer of clean technologies and the safe and environmentally sound use of biotechnologies;
- Joint research activities;
- Improvement of laws towards Community standards;
Cooperation at regional level, including cooperation within the framework of the European Environment Agency, and at international level;
Development of strategies, particularly with regard to global and climatic issues and also in view of achieving sustainable development;
Environmental impact studies.
Article 55. Transport
The Parties shall develop and strengthen their cooperation in the field of transport.
This cooperation shall, inter alia, aim at restructuring and modernizing transport systems and networks in the Republic of Kazakhstan, and developing and ensuring, where appropriate, compatibility of transportation systems in the context of achieving a more global transport system.
The cooperation shall include, inter alia:
- The modernizing of management and operations of road transport, railways, ports and airports;
- Modernization and development of railways, waterways, roads, ports, airports and air navigation infrastructure including the modernization of major routes of common interest and the trans-European links for the above modes;
- Promotion and development of multi-modal transport;
- The promotion of joint research and development programmes;
- Preparation of the legislative and institutional framework for policy development and implementation including privatization of the transport sector.
Article 56. Space
Bearing in mind the respective competencies of the Community, its Member States and the European Space Agency the Parties shall promote where appropriate long-term cooperation in the areas of civil space research, development and commercial applications. The Parties will pay particular attention to initiatives making full use of the complementarity of their respective space activities.
Article 57. Postal Services and Telecommunications
Within their respective powers and competencies the Parties shall expand and strengthen cooperation in the following areas:
The establishment of policies and guidelines for the development of the telecommunications sector and postal services;
Development of principles of a tariff policy and marketing in telecommunications and postal services;
Encouraging the development of projects for telecommunications and postal services and attracting investment;
Enhancing efficiency and quality of the provision of telecommunications and postal services, amongst others through liberalization of activities of sub-sectors;
Advanced application of telecommunications, notably in the area of electronic funds transfer;
Management of telecommunications networks and their "optimization";
An appropriate regulatory basis for the provision of telecommunication and postal services and for the use of the radio frequency spectrum;
Training in the field of telecommunications and postal services for operations in market conditions.
Article 58. Financial Services
Cooperation shall in particular aim at facilitating the involvement of the Republic of Kazakhstan in universally accepted systems of mutual settlements. Technical assistance shall focus on:
- The development of banking and financial services, the development of a common market of credit resources, the involvement of the Republic of Kazakhstan in a universally accepted system of mutual settlements;
- The development of the fiscal system, fiscal institutions in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the exchange of experience and personnel training in fiscal matters;
- The development of insurance services, which would inter alia create a favourable framework for Community companies participation in the establishment of joint ventures in the insurance sector in the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the development of export credit insurance.
This cooperation shall in particular contribute to foster the development of relations between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Member States in the financial services sector.
Article 59. Money Laundering
1. The Parties agree on the necessity of making efforts and cooperating in order to prevent the use of their financial systems for laundering of proceeds from criminal activities in general and drug offences in particular.
2. Cooperation in this area shall include administrative and technical assistance with the purpose of establishing suitable standards against money laundering equivalent to those adopted by the Community and international fora in this field, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Article 60. Regional Development
1. The Parties shall strengthen cooperation on regional development and land-use planning.
2. To this end, they shall encourage exchange of information by national, regional and local authorities on regional and land-use planning policy and on methods of formulation of regional policies with special emphasis on the development of disadvantaged areas.
They shall also encourage direct contacts between the respective regions and public organizations responsible for regional development planning with the aim, inter alia, to exchange methods and ways of fostering regional development.
Article 61. Social Cooperation
1. With regard to health and safety, the parties shall develop cooperation between them with the aim of improving the level of protection of the health and safety of workers. The cooperation shall include notably:
- Education and training on health and safety issues with specific attention to high risk sectors of activity;
- Development and promotion of preventive measures to combat work related diseases and other work related ailments;
- Prevention of major accident hazards and the management of toxic chemicals;
- Research to develop the knowledge base in relation to working environment and the health and safety of workers.
2. With regard to employment, the cooperation shall include notably technical assistance to:
- Optimization of the labour market;
- Modernization of the job-finding and consulting services;
- Planning and management of the restructuring programmes;
- Encouragement of local employment development;
- Exchange of information on the programmes of flexible employment, including those stimulating self-employment and promoting entrepreneurship.
3. The Parties shall pay special attention to cooperation in the sphere of social protection which, inter alia, shall include cooperation in planning and implementing social protection reforms in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
These reforms shall aim to develop in the Republic of Kazakhstan methods of protection intrinsic to market economies and shall comprise all directions of social protection.
Article 62. Tourism
The Parties shall increase and develop cooperation between them, which shall include:
- Facilitating the tourist trade;
- Increasing the flow of information;
- Transferring know-how;
- Studying the opportunities for joint operations;
- Cooperation between official tourism bodies;
- Training for tourism development.
Article 63. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
1. The Parties shall aim to develop and strengthen small and medium-sized enterprises and their associations and cooperation between SMEs in the Community and the Republic of Kazakhstan.
2. Cooperation shall include technical assistance, in particular in the following areas:
- The development of a legislative framework for SMEs;
The development of an appropriate infrastructure (an agency to support SMEs communications, assistance to the creation of a fund for SMEs);
The development of technology parks.
Article 64. Information and Communication
The Parties shall support the development of modern methods of information handling, including the media, and stimulate the effective mutual exchange of information. Priority shall be given to programmes aimed at providing the general public with basic information about the Community and the Republic of Kazakhstan, including, where possible, access to databases, in full respect of intellectual property rights.
Article 65. Consumer Protection
The Parties will enter into close cooperation aimed at achieving compatibility between their systems of consumer protection. This cooperation may include the exchange of information on legislative work and institutional reform, the establishment of permanent systems of mutual information on dangerous products, the improvement of information provided to consumers especially on prices, characteristics of products and services offered, the development of exchanges between the consumer interest representatives, and increasing the compatibility of consumer protection policies, and the organization of seminars and training periods.
Article 66. Customs
1. The aim of cooperation shall be to guarantee compliance with all the provisions scheduled for adoption in connection with trade and fair trade and to achieve the approximation of the Republic of Kazakhstan's customs system to that of the Community.
2. Cooperation shall include the following in particular:
- The exchange of information;
- The improvement of working methods;
- The introduction of the Combined Nomenclature and the single administrative document;
- The interconnection between the transit systems of the Community and the Republic of Kazakhstan;
- The simplification of inspections and formalities in respect of the carriage of goods;
- The support in the introduction of modern customs information systems;
- The organization of seminars and training periods.
Technical assistance shall be provided where necessary.
3. Without prejudice to further cooperation foreseen in this agreement and in particular Article 69 the mutual assistance between administrative authorities in customs matters of the Parties shall take place in accordance with the provisions of the Protocol attached to this Agreement.
Article 67. Statistical Cooperation
Cooperation in this area shall have as its aim the development of an efficient statistical system to provide the reliable statistics needed to support and monitor the process of economic reform and contribute to the development of private enterprise in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The Parties, in particular, shall cooperate in the following fields:
- Adaptation of the Kazakh statistical system to international methods, standards and classification;
- Exchange of statistical information;
- Provision of necessary statistical macro and microeconomic information to implement and manage economic reforms.
The Community shall contribute to this end by rendering technical assistance to the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Article 68. Economics
The Parties shall facilitate the process of economic reform and the coordination of economic policies by cooperating to improve understanding of the fundamentals of their respective economies and the design and implementation of economic policy in market economies. To this end, the Parties shall exchange information on macroeconomic performance and prospects.
The Community shall provide technical assistance so as to:
- Assist the Republic of Kazakhstan in the process of economic reform by providing expert advisory and technical assistance;
- Encourage cooperation among economists in order to expedite the transfer of know-how for the drafting of economic policies, and provide for wide dissemination of policy-relevant research.
Article 69. Drugs
Within the framework of their respective powers and competencies the Parties shall cooperate in increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of policies and measures to counter the illicit production, supply and traffic of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, including the prevention of diversion of precursor chemicals, as well as in promoting drug demand prevention and reduction. The cooperation in this area shall be based on mutual consultation and close coordination between the Parties over the objectives and measures on the various drug-related fields.
Article 70. Cooperation on Prevention of Illegal Activities
The Parties shall establish cooperation aimed at preventing illegal activities such as:
- Illegal immigration and illegal presence of physical persons of their nationality on their respective territories, taking into account the principle and practice of readmission;
- Illegal activities in the sphere of economics, including corruption;
- Illegal transactions of various goods, including industrial waste;
- Counterfeiting;
- The illicit traffic of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and arms.
The cooperation in the abovementioned areas will be based on mutual consultations and close interactions and will provide technical and administrative assistance including:
- Drafting of national legislation in the sphere of preventing illegal activities;
- Creation of information centres;
- Increasing the efficiency of institutions engaged in preventing illegal activities;
- Training of personnel and development of research infrastructures;
- Elaboration of mutually acceptable measures aimed at impeding illegal activities.
Article 71.
The Parties undertake to promote, encourage and facilitate cultural cooperation. Where appropriate, the Community's cultural cooperation programmes or those of one or more Member States may be the subject of cooperation and further activities of mutual interest may be developed.
Article 72.
In order to achieve the objectives of this Agreement and in accordance with Articles 73, 74 and 75 the Republic of Kazakhstan shall benefit from temporary financial assistance from the Community by way of technical assistance in the form of grants to accelerate the economic transformation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Article 73.
This financial assistance shall be covered within the framework of TACIS as foreseen in the Community's relevant Council Regulation.
Article 74.
The objectives and the areas of the Community's financial assistance shall be laid down in an indicative programme reflecting established priorities to be agreed between the two Parties taking into account the Republic of Kazakhstan's needs, sectoral absorption capacities and progress with reform. The Parties shall inform the Cooperation Council thereof.