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Following the 17th EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Committee in Brussels earlier in the week, EU Reporter met with Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister, Roman Vassilenko.

Vassilenko is optimistic that the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), a second generation agreement which has been in provisional force since May 2016 and has been ratified by 25 member states, will finally come into effect by the end of this year.

Three EU countries – Cyprus, Italy and the Netherlands – are still to ratify but he says he sees “no problem with this.”

Discussions about a “roadmap” for implementing the EPCA took place at the meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

This will pave the way for full implementation of “29 areas of cooperation” across a diverse range of sectors, including trade, health, fighting terrorism and support for SMEs, said Vassilenko.

He expects the visa negotiations to start, although he accepts what he calls the “charged issue” of migration in Europe at present. Vassilenko explained that he did not expect progress on this matter before the EU updates its visa code, but hoped that once this is done progress could be made.