Kazakhstan, Luxembourg to sign flight agreement
By Aynur Jafarova
Kazakhstan and Luxembourg have agreed on a draft agreement which allows European airliners to fly over the skies of the two countries.
This was announced by the Kazakh Ministry of Transport and Communications on April 7.
The document contains provisions designated to bring existing air services agreements between Kazakhstan and the European Union (EU) member states in line with the EU legislation.
In 2002, the European Commission proposed Kazakhstan to amend the provisions of bilateral agreements with the EU member states on the conditions of air carrier ownership and control over their activities towards liberalization.
"In contrast to the agreements that have been signed between Kazakhstan and the European countries earlier, this document complies with EU law," Kazakh Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Azat Bekturov said. "The agreement will create the legal framework for flying of European airliners over Kazakhstan."
He added it is certainly a big step in the development of relations between Kazakhstan and the EU.
Currently, the parties are preparing to sign the draft agreement at the intergovernmental level.
If signed, the document will serve as a basis for signing similar agreements with other EU countries and making amendments to the agreements in force.
Kazakhstan's airlines include Air Astana, Air Company MEGA, Avia Jaynar, Bek Air, Berkut Air, Euro-Asia Air, Excellent Glide, Irtysh-Air, SCAT, Semeyavia, Zhetysu, and Zhezkazgan Air.
Kazakhstan will establish another national airline to carry out domestic flights which will start operating in 2015.
The bilateral trade between the EU and Kazakhstan has been growing very rapidly over the past decade.
Europe has become the top investor in Kazakhstan recently, accounting for about half of the total foreign direct investments in the country. The Kazakhstan-EU trade amounted to €31 billion in 2012.
In 2012, the EU import from Kazakhstan amounted to about 24.4 billion euros while the export from the EU made up 6.9 billion euros.